Dancers in colorful costumes perform on stage in front of a large, ornate backdrop featuring a circular floral and ribbon design.

Prep School: Fantasque

Fantasque is the first collaboration between choreographer John Heginbotham and puppeteer Amy Trompetter, pairing dancers with puppets — which the New Yorker calls the “real stars of the show.” Learn more about their respective companies: Dance Heginbotham and Redwing Blackbird Theater.

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Performers with large, exaggerated puppets and masks dance on stage around a table, while floating heads and fish hang above. Two dancers strike high kicks beside a checkered tablecloth in a theatrical, surreal scene.
  • Sat Nov 17 – Sun Nov 18, 2018

Dance Heginbotham/Amy Trompetter: Fantasque

  • Dance
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Kristin Horton on John Heginbotham & Amy Trompetter

Puppets just might be the most versatile collaborators for storytelling and performance-making on the planet. Their transformative abilities have captured the imaginations of storytellers and audiences alike. A puppet’s scale alone can make the inaccessible instantly accessible. In the case of the Pavakathakali, the traditional glove puppet theater from Kerala in South India, the small size of the puppets allows for the epic dance-dramas of the Kathakali (story plays) to travel and unfold in households and small communal spaces. Conversely, the paper-maché giants of the Bread and Puppet Theater in Glover, Vermont embody characters that can be seen from atop the natural amphitheater of a mountainside. Throughout the world, these adaptable performers — often constructed from materials such as mud, recycled cardboard, grass, tree branches, shadows or flickering light — shapeshift, fly, disappear and then reappear. They animate the invisible. And in some cases, they speak the unspeakable. Simply put, they can do things that human performers cannot.

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Three performers manipulate a large, flowing white puppet with a bear-like head and extended arms on a dramatic, earth-toned stage.

GET INTO IT

Learn a dance combination with John Heginbotham

OFFICE HOURS

Victoria Anderson, Amy Trompetter, and John Heginbotham

ORIGIN STORIES

The narrative of Fantasque has its origins in a collage of stories and myths. Bertha the Broadfoot (aka Perchta the Goosefoot aka Mother Goose) is both a historical figure and a goddess of Norse Mythology.

But Bertha wasn’t the only source material for Fantasque. Dance Heginbotham cites inspiration from the Ballet Russes’ 1919 production of La Boutique Fantasque (The Fantastic Toyshop). Written by Ottorino Respighi and based on piano pieces by Gioachino Rossini, the orchestrations were adapted for this production.

Everybody Loves Puppets

Puppets are no strangers to sharing the stage with human dancers and actors.

While The Lion King‘s director and designer Julie Taymor favors more elaborate, mechanized puppets, Trompetter champions DIY, eco-friendly puppet-making, and emphasizes community engagement in and through her puppets, via in-studio performances and political parades. While her creations are expertly made, they come from humble materials, as she describes on the Redwing Blackbird Theatre website:

If we are to continue our existence on the earth, then the harmony with nature is going to need to find a way to lead humanity… Our materials cost practically nothing. We make puppets and sets from clay dug from the earth, glue made from cornstarch and paper and cardboard found in the recycling bin.

Following Trompetter’s ethos: Materials for the Arts is a non-profit arts organization that works to keep reusable materials out of landfills, and to provide resources to underserved arts organizations and educational programs in NYC. Their warehouse is a wonderland of potential, with shelf after shelf of stuff that can be reimagined in endless ways: fabric, beads, furniture, unpredictable surprises, and office supplies of every stripe. What kind of magic could be made from hundreds of 3-ring binders? Get inspired with their simple puppet tutorial plus examples of larger-scale puppets made with their materials. (Do you have odds and ends in your home or office that you don’t know what to do with? Make a donation!)

Feeling fancier? Scientists love puppets too. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is currently searching for a $10,000-or-less triceratops puppet, for use in their education programs. Apply now!

Mythbusters‘ Adam Savage goes backstage with Broadway’s The Lion King to get up close and personal with the puppets, and meet the full-time staff charged with their care and upkeep.

The National Theatre gives a step-by-step tutorial on how to make your own life-size person puppet, with simple materials (no motors here, unlike The Lion King!).

The National Theatre gives a step-by-step tutorial on how to move your own life-size person puppet.

EXTRA CREDIT

Another origin story from Plato, by way of Hedwig and the Angry Inch — no puppets here, but this film adaptation of what was originally an off-Broadway musical uses animation to bring mythology to life.

The Origin Of Love – Hedwig and the Angry Inch Film Clip