DANCE

 As a pre-Halloween treat for children and enchantment-ready adults, Dance Prism will present a new setting of the Grimm Brothers' favorite Hansel & Gretel at the Collins Center in Andover on October 21 at 2:30 pm. Additional performances are to be announced. Two short bonus pieces, an uproarious version of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, and the ghostly Danse Macabre, will accompany Hansel & Gretel. Children may meet the principal characters at a complementary Gingerbread Party hosted by the infamous Gingerbread Witch following each performance.

Dance Prism has chosen to temper the dark atmosphere of the ancient German tale of a marauding witch and forlorn kidnapped children with a healthy serving of comic spirits, according to Artistic Director Mary Demaso. “Disquieting as the premise of a hag who turns children into edible gingerbread may be,” she says, “no one can take seriously our bumbling villain and her feline accomplices, or the assortment of spirits who prance through the children’s dreams.” The witch, in all her gruesome glory, will be gleefully portrayed en travesti by Dance Prism’s leading character dancer/actor Jonathan H.Towle, in mock battle with company soloists Tianna Tarquinio and Chris Towle as the title characters.