Performance of Children's Literature Spring 2025

Performing Reds

On this page you’ll explore a few ways that Little Red Riding Hood has been performed without text – through dance and figure skating.

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In the Tchaikovsky ballet Sleeping Beauty, there is a scene that features many fairy tale characters, including Little Red Riding Hood. Below are three versions of the brief piece showing The Little Red Riding Hood story. Pay close attention to how movement tells the story.

Each of the ballet videos use the same music but slightly different choreography to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood in less than 90 seconds. How does the movement of the dancer’s body help to tell each version of the story? How does the visual depiction change?

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22 responses to “Performing Reds”

  1. Denise Warren Avatar
    Denise Warren

    The dancers used leaping, jumping, skipping, crouching, skipping, facial and hand gestures, pointing, twirling, spinning, quick steps, graceful movement, etc., to tell the story. The Moscow ballet wolf used raised arms, “knee-walking”, and high leaps to show that he was chasing and trying to catch Little Red Riding Hood. The facial expression of the female dancer in the Maria Mishina video illustrated that she was happy, surprised, and scared throughout the performance.In the Pitchley Gale video, the female dancer pointed out to the wolf , which illustrated that she wanted to distract him while making a quick get away. The visual depiction changes along with the pace of the music and movements.

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  2. Synphanie Mojica Avatar
    Synphanie Mojica

    The movement of the Maria Mishina video uses pointed toes to get away from the wolf while the wolf movements are open with him taking big steps. In Pitchley Gale, they tell this story through dance by Red Riding Hood pointing as if she is looking at something and the wolf uses quick high leaps to run after her. Next in the Moscow Ballet the wolf uses a kneeling crouch motion to show his fierceness. The visual depictions between the dances changed in multiple ways, through the settings, wardrobes and the movements. In the Maria Mishina dance, the girl had on a red bodice and the wolf wore a mask and a one-piece brown wolf costume. Meanwhile, in the Pitchley Gale production, Red Riding Hood had a red hood and a basket, but the wolf was wearing velvet puff sleaves. Lastly in the Moscow Ballet it showed the dancer with a more flowy skirt and the wolf costume was furrier.

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  3. Danielle Avatar
    Danielle

    The dancers use their movements to show different parts of the Little Red Riding Hood story in a short time. Skipping and twirling make Red Riding Hood look playful and innocent, while leaping and jumping show excitement or danger. When the dancer crouches or points, it can show fear or surprise, like when she meets the wolf. Facial expressions and hand gestures help tell the emotions of the story, like happiness, fear, or bravery. Each version looks different because the movements change how Red Riding Hood, the wolf, and other characters interact, making the story feel different each time.

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  4. Aleksandra Grala Avatar
    Aleksandra Grala

    The dancers’ movements tell Little Red Riding Hood’s story through playful, quick steps for Red and sneaky, stalking gestures for the Wolf, creating contrast. Their interactions set the tone. Some versions feel easygoing, and others more dramatic.

    Visually, each version differs in costumes (fairy-tale vs. elegant), staging (dreamlike vs. dramatic), and tone (humorous vs. suspenseful). However, the music remains the same.

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  5. Kajol Victoria Singh Avatar
    Kajol Victoria Singh

    The movement regarding each of the videos differ slightly. It seems as if in the first video, the wolf is jumping in the air higher. This rapid jumping might express his wicked intentions or excitement that Little Red does not immediately give in to. The videos show similar movements of Little Red daintily moving around from place to place, with certain spins, turns, and twirls. The two lst videos also use certain hand gestures and movements – like covering her own face, and pointing through the woods as she goes. I think the costume for the wolf adds to the story’s telling as well.

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  6. Aliviya Iskhakova Avatar
    Aliviya Iskhakova

    The first ballet shows the dancers depicting Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf doing a lot of partner work. They jump over each other, indicating an altercation that ends with Little Red Riding Hood being carried off by the wolf as she’s struggling. The second ballet features trees in the background to show that the setting is in the woods. The two dancers are depicted as having a kind of cat and mouse chase as they’re leaping away and towards one another. Little Red Riding Hood is then shown to hide amongst trees while the wolf is distracted and she’s able to get away. In the last one, there are also trees to indicate the setting but the performer for Little Red Riding Hood uses a lot of facial expressions and gestures to show fear. She is shown trying to distract the wolf by pointing somewhere else while leading him away but she runs back into him and is ultimately captured.

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  7. Calista spezio Avatar
    Calista spezio

    To start, it was very interesting to see Little Red Riding Hood told in so many different versions. In Moscow ballet, I liked the way the wolf was on his knees chasing Little Red Riding Hood but then they eventually came together and danced as one. In the dance done by the royal ballet, I appreciated her facial expressions while dancing. I thought it added depth to the story. I think the visual depictions change throughout the different dances of the different backgrounds and costumes shown in each of them. Its very intresting to see how the same story is told so many different ways.

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  8. D'Ella Brown Avatar
    D’Ella Brown

    The first thing I noticed was the bright red that little red is wearing in all the shows. the red is a lot brighter than any other color on the stage. Even though both little red and the wolf are doing similar ballet, the wolf seems more dominant in the dance. Especially in the third video where the wolf grabs her, picks her up and carries her off stage. Little reds facial expression also showed she was shocked and scared. The wolf is also taller than little red.

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  9. Jada Williams Avatar
    Jada Williams

    The music played a very important part in expressing the dance moves and intentions behind the roles they play. I like how when the wolf comes out the music tend to get fast or at times deeper and the wolf dance moves consist of high jumps and flips. He is very hyperactive. I notice too that he often gets close to her or behind her and can copy her moves. He tend to also try and be welcoming and give out a hand and little red riding hood declines. There was a part that I like in the “ Moscow Ballets” when the wolf did a sly move on his knees as if he was predator tracking his prey. For little red riding hood her moves were very gentle, her steps were together and fast. She moved her arms and was looking around a lot to show that she was exploring or wandering around. She had no care in the world. She was happy. When the wolf came to her she started jumping a little more higher and stretching out to show a damsel in distress.

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  10. Layla Ettu Avatar
    Layla Ettu

    Even though the concept was the same, there was different choreography in telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The movement of the dancers’ bodies were telling different versions of the story. Each version shows how choreography can change how a story is told, this sets the tone to the individuals watching. Especially in the first video that performed Little Red Riding Hood as a musical. Just watching the video made me happy because of the choreography as well as the music, and they didn’t portray it as a bad story, they twisted the ending to make it a happy ending that fit it with their performance.

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  11. Sophia Awad Avatar
    Sophia Awad

    Many of the movements and gestures made by the dancers very accurately represent the actions of the characters in the stories. For example, the big leaps done by the dancers often indicated that the character was running away. Additionally, the twirls done by Little Red Riding Hood in the Moscow ballet indicate her frolicking freely and at ease, as she is enjoying herself so much so that she is twirling without being aware of her surroundings. Also, within the same ballet, we see the wolf imitating the girl’s ballet moves as he is trying to gain her trust and show her that he is not a threat. Lastly, within the first and last ballet posted, we can see the wolf leaving stage by carrying the girl, indicating he has taken her (either killed or eaten her). However, within the Maria Mishina ballet, the girl circles the dancers dressed as trees and when the wolf leaves the stage, we see the girl leave in the opposite direction, indicting that she has escaped the wolf and is running the other way.

    The visual depictions of the story change throughout each ballet, as within the last two ballets the setting is more accurately depicted as a forest through their invorperation of the trees and such. Additionally, the wolves in the first and second ballets are more so costumed as wolves, with a more obvious costume head of a wolf. Laslty, the cosutiming of the girl is most accurately Little Red Riding Hood, as the girl is featured wearing a hood whereas the other girls are cosutmed wearing red dresses or red outfits with a red hat.

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  12. Salma Avatar
    Salma

    In each ballet video, the dancers use their movements to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood in their own way. In the Maria Mishina performance, Red Riding Hood’s quick, pointed steps show her trying to get away, while the wolf takes big, open strides to seem more threatening. In Pitchley Gale’s version, Red Riding Hood points as if she’s looking around, and the wolf uses high, fast leaps to create a sense of urgency. The Moscow Ballet has the wolf moving in a low, crouched position to make him look fierce. The visuals change too, with different costumes and settings like the red bodice and full wolf costume in Maria Mishina’s dance, the red hood and velvet sleeves in Pitchley Gale’s, and the flowy skirt and furrier wolf look in the Moscow Ballet. Each version uses movement and visuals to bring a fresh twist to the classic tale.

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  13. Crystal Ebanks Avatar
    Crystal Ebanks

    The dancers all use a variety of dance moves and body movements to convey the overall story of Little Red Riding Hood, but also represent each character. In each dance, the dancer representing the wolf moves with larger or quicker movements to represent the danger, while Little red uses smaller and dainty movements.

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  14. cindy ambrosio Avatar
    cindy ambrosio

    Moscows ballet shows the girl dancing happily until the wolf shows up. She puts her hands on her face, expressing fear, but when the wolf gives her a hand, she starts dancing with him, showing how gullible she may be. Soon after, we see that she is filled with fear again and the wolf seems as if he is trying to get her. The girl tries to dance away, but at the end the wolf grabs her and leaves.

    In the other video, Maria Mishina is seen dancing happily until she sees the wolf. She is filled with fear and tries to run away. When the wolf begins chasing her, we see that she screams for help which allows the forest man to help her, and at the end, she is able to escape from him.

    In the last video, we see Gemma Pitchley dancing to the forest until she encounters the wolf. The wolf tries to get her and she tries to run away. Something different about this ballet dance is that we see a one-on-one interaction with the wolf which includes conversation and at the end, the wolf eats her.

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  15. Amy Merino Avatar
    Amy Merino

    The dancers using pointing, their facial expression and movement to tell the story of little red.
    In the second video we see her dancing along not really knowing that the wolf is mocking her by copying her movments and by the end she gets taken away. In the third video we see her dancing depicting litle red not following the straight path to her grandmothers house when she first encounters the wolf. In this version I saw it as she tricked the wolf and was able to save herself. In the last video by pointing at her body she is showing the part where she says what big mouth you have. Each video to me gave a dfferent outcome to what happened to little red at the end.

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  16. Shania Smith Avatar
    Shania Smith

    The dancers use a variety of facial expressions to express feelings in these videos. The plays also show other characters, adding to the storytelling even though the scenes aren’t mainly about them. For example the wolf mocking little red provokes emotion in the audience, whether it’s comedy or anger.

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  17. Leslie Talavera Avatar
    Leslie Talavera

    in the Moscow Ballet The Sleeping Beauty- Little Red Riding Hood you can see how she is dancing while the wolf is observing her and starts dancing with her. In my point of view, it seemed as if she was dancing with the wolf as a form of trust that at the end he breaks by taking her away. It was showed a form of how she was trusting him and he took advantage of that trust.

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  18. Chadeary Avatar
    Chadeary

    The dancers use body language like skipping, tiptoeing, or crouching to show Red’s innocence, curiosity, or fear. The wolf is often shown through sneaky, aggressive, or exaggerated movements to create tension. Even though there are no words, the gestures and expressions clearly show the story. Each performance changes slightly depending on the mood the choreography sets, some feel playful, while others are more dramatic. The costumes and stage also help show who’s who and set the tone for each version.

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  19. Malissa Solon Avatar
    Malissa Solon

    The dancers used dance and facial expressions to tell the story of little red riding hood but it was confusing to me because it seemed as if at the end of the performance little red riding hood and the wolf went off to live happily ever after.In all the versions of little red riding hood that I read the wolf is always the villain but in the perfomance it seems as if they friendly or in love.

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  20. Zoe Davis Avatar
    Zoe Davis

    Each of the ballet videos use the same music but slightly different choreography to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood in less than 90 seconds. How does the movement of the dancer’s body help to tell each version of the story? How does the visual depiction change?

    The dancers all use their legs and arms to capture the characteristics of the characters. The women depicting Red Riding Hood are very whimsical in their movements, while the wolves are predatory in theirs.

    Some changes in the depiction were the added props like the trees in the second version and the color choices like the pops of blue in the last two.

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    1. Zoe Davis Avatar
      Zoe Davis

      oops forgot to take out the question! sorry!

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  21. Jairy Arana Avatar
    Jairy Arana

    Each ballet shows the story through how the dancers move, quick steps and spins can show Red Riding Hood as playful or nervous, while slow, sneaky moves show the Wolf as a threat. Some versions feel fun and silly, while others look darker or more serious, depending on costumes, lighting, and how the dancers act. Even with the same music, the way each dancer moves changes how we see the story.

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