Often times we look at the arts as distinct forms of expression, but you’d be surprised to know that many dancers move to the music that composers create which in turn are influenced by works of literature that are later brought to life on the stage or in film.

Delving into a storyline has never been easier thanks to the wonderful people in digital media!  We have a bounty of resources available at our fingertips every moment of the day.  Try taking your next book report to a whole new level!

Read the book, examine the sketches, watch the film, follow the musical score while listening to the soundtrack, and then write about how these different artists wove the same tale in their own art form.  Were they able to maintain a sense of continuity across cultural divides in time or country? What new dimension of understanding did each art form bring to its rendition of the story? How might today’s audience interpret the symbolism differently from an audience of yesteryear?

Common Stories:

Sleeping Beauty- Grimm Brothers (text)/Tchaikovsky (composer)/Disney (film animation), Tennyson (poet), Britten (visual art)

Of Mice And Men- Steinbeck (text)/Floyd (opera)/Sinise (film)

Midsummer Night’s Dream- Shakespeare (text)/Hoffman (film)/Mendelssohn (composer)

Noah & The Flood- The Bible: Genesis (text)/Balanchine (ballet)/Stravinsky (composer)/Michelangelo (visual art: Sistine Chapel fresco)

Orpheus & Eurydice- Ovid (text), Gluck (opera), Titian (visual art: painting), Cocteau (film), Gaiman (comics), Cavanagh (video game)

Check out your local library and the following websites for resources!

IMSLP.org  (free sheet music & some original scores no longer under copyright)

OpenMusicLibrary.org  (free orchestral scores that may not be out of copyright)

Gutenburg.org  (free e-books no longer under copyright)

Archive.org  (films dating back to Charlie Chaplin & Georges Melies–parents be careful of content!)