Showing posts with label rumpelstiltskin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rumpelstiltskin. Show all posts

Friday, November 6, 2020

"Fairy Tales De-stressed" Shows - and Teaches - the Transforming Power of Learning Mindfulness

“Many characters in fairy tales are under clear stress – or else causing it to others. They badly need to meditate. And so we wondered what would happen if they did.” 

Feeling stressed? Us too! Self-care is very important right now as election results remain in flux and the results uncertain. 

But let's be real. It's still really hard to stop the stress, the frustration, and restless worry spinning in our minds. The good news is that there is one scientifically proven tool available to use to help and that's meditation and mindfulness. If you're like a lot of folks, though, that seems too hard to make happen and might feel a little "woo-woo" to get started. Thankfully, there's an app for that! 

 If you've spent any time watching media coverage of the election, there's a good chance you will have seen this pop up every now and then during a commercial break:


Easy, right? And that's pretty much how easy it is to begin.

While the above video is a commercial for a product - a subscription app called Calm - it is also incredibly welcome to see a reminder to just "stop", in the middle of the debate and contention. Calm is the #1 app for guided meditation, breathing, focus, and mindfulness and uses a lot of nature-enhanced visuals and audio to help people deal with anxiety and stress. They also. however, have a whole library of "sleep stories", including some retold fairy tales. 

(And, no, we have no affiliation with the company and are not getting any perks - we just think this is awesome.)

To us, though, the most interesting use of the fairy tales they've added is the "Fairy Tales De-stressed" series.

The shared theme of these new tales is the power of meditation, mindfulness, and other mind tools to transform lives. 
...The new tales are also loosely inspired by the Dalai Lama’s assertion that, “If every eight year-old is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.” 
The four tales we are aware of in this series are "Rumpelstiltskin Learns to Meditate", "The Big Bad Wolf Learns Anger Management", The Wicked Witch of the West Learns Mindfulness", and "Pinocchio and the Sleepless Cricket". These aren't really retellings though. They are more akin to an additional chapter in the already existing story of these angry and messed up characters, in which, by learning new tools to manage stress and emotions, become transformed. 
The best part? It's not just a story. The principles are based on scientific evidence of the measurable effects that using meditation can have.
It tells what happens – and what a different turn life takes – when Rumpelstiltskin does what any creature famed for their foul temper should do – and learns to meditate.
It starts by recapping the traditional tale of Rumpelstiltskin ... or, what we might call the bad, sad and chronically ill-tempered chapter in his life before he learnt meditation.
If there's any truth to the notion that many of us possess our own inner Rumpelstiltskin in some form, then not just the Dalai Lama but plenty of scientific research suggests that meditation might be the answer. 
 
...“There’s a wealth of research showing that meditation can make people kinder, more compassionate and less angry," says Alex Tew. One study by Northeastern University – commissioned by another meditation app – found that as little three weeks of meditation can increase compassion by 23% and reduce aggression by 57%. 
The "Fairy Tales De-stressed" series uses celebrities Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones), Keegan Connor Tracy (ABCs Once Upon A Time) and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) as narrators, and join the many other celebrity voices in the Sleep Stories library for Calm.
Calm website screenshot - a small selection of the manhy, many titles available
Calm is available through the Google Play Store for android and the AppleStore for iPhone and iPad products. They are currently having a 7-day free Premium access trial with no obligation exit, which unlocks all the Sleep Stories, and there's also a 40% off welcome offer for the yearly subscription. 

While the Sleep Stories are aimed at adults, Calm has just added a whole lot of stories for kids just in time for this stressful season, so there's something for the whole family.

Go HERE to check them out. If you're someone who carries your phone with you most places you go, you'll get a lot out of Calm over the course of the day, every day. Easiest personal trainer for better mental health ever.
"Introducing my new Sleep Story ‘Pinocchio and the Sleepless Cricket’ - with a special appearance by the Blue Fairy. I’ve talked a lot about my insomnia and how these sleep stories were a game-changer for me. So slide into the sheets, relax and get comfortable while I lull you to dreamland with a new twist on an old classic"- Keegan Connor Tracy

As a bonus, here is a trailer for another of the fairy tales available in the Sleep Stories library, though this one made the news not too long ago: this is the first AI-written bedtime story. While most of the stories are written by experienced and respected writers, this one is the "test story" to see if AI is able to write a traditionally-styled fairy tale, but with some contemporary updating, and satisfy listeners. (You be the judge.):

Saturday, April 25, 2020

'The Girl Who Spun Gold', And How Rumpelstiltskin Explores Creativity Under Stress

All illustrations in this post by Leo & Diane Dillon for Virginia Hamilton's The Girl Who Spun Gold
This past couple of weeks in the Fairy Tale Newsroom, we've been thinking a lot about the trials of the usually-nameless girl in Rumpelstiltskin, forced to produce gold from the leftover dried stalks of cereal plants, after all the "good" parts have been removed (we call it straw), under fear of death if results - a.k.a. GOLD - aren't produced.

Boy does that feel relevant right now! In a world where we can barely find toilet paper, how are we supposed to produce beautiful and good things with substitute or substandard (or no!) resources? Let alone get in a creative flow when every tickle of the nose making us sneeze has us grabbing our always-within-reach thermometers, to see if we've (gulp!) gotten a fever and been infected?

It's a mad world and we feel like we've gone mad too, and oh-my-goodness-if-one-more-person-says-this-is-the-ideal-time-to learn-a-new-language-we-just-might-scream?! We might as well be trying to spin gold out of empty toilet rolls... Hey Miller's Daughter: we are so feeling your mood right now!

Did you notice the focus of this fairy tale tends to be about naming yet the girl at the center of the conflict, the one under duress, the one without whom the tale wouldn't be, rarely has a name of her own? We'll come back to that... it's important.
The Pressure To Produce "Gold" In A Pandemic
Although we don't have a tyrant threatening to kill us (personally), it's no exaggeration to say that all over the world we are currently living under bizarre conditions with the possibility of illness and death looming, and yet somehow we are required to keep "normal life happening" and, as it turns out, are being pressured to do a whole lot more. As fairy tale friends and professors Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman commented in an interview with Enchanted Conversation Magazine's Kate Wolford, just this week:
"..it's hard to tap into that creativity, to do the things you want to do and make the things you want to make, when your mind is caught up in a stress spiral or too awhirl to settle down. (If you've found yourself actually screaming 'STOP' out loud to your own brain in the last few weeks, know you're not alone!)"If you're scared, if you're stressed, it can feel impossible to do basic tasks, let alone be Super Creative and Accomplished!
Rumpelstiltskin provides some interesting ways to look at survival under pressure, at creativity under pressure, and, depending on how the tale is told, different ways to consider ingenuity, bargaining, and even helpers.
To quote the Carterhaugh Fairy Tale Profs:
"Spinning is, of course, about so much more than transforming fiber into thread."
The CarterhaughSchool for Folklore and the Fantastic course "Rapunzel's Circle: Finding Enchantment Under Quarantine", starting next week, seeks to find ways to help fairy tale folk through the stress and pressures to places of wonder and hope and to help the open the door to creativity despite the circumstances. The pressure to do the most ordinary of things (did you shower today?) is so very great at present, and the call to "be productive, creative, or reinvent yourself NOW, because this is the perfect opportunity and it will NEVER come again", puts even more pressure on top of basic survival. It's not as simple as it first appears; it's a very complex issue, swirling with human need, fear, worry, confusion, motivation, values, and having to remain on guard against misinformation.
Putting The Focus On (And Helping) The Ones In Crisis, Not The Unfamiliar Threat With A Weird Name

Names:
Coronavirus.
COVID-19 (which stands for coronavirus disease appearing in 2019).
SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 )
Meanings:
Coronavirus is the family of viruses this new (novel) one belongs to (which include SARS and MERS).
COVID-19 is the official name for the disease.
SARS-CoV-2 is the official name of the virus that causes the disease...

See? We're already stressed out by focusing on the names of these threats, names we barely understand, and currently have no cure for, rather than the people - us! - in crisis who have to deal with the threat, no matter what its name happens to technically be. ("A rose is a rose by any other name...")
It's affecting people EVERYWHERE of all different backgrounds, cultures, social statuses, faiths, countries, and appearances. If anything, this coronavirus is a great equalizer. We are all at risk. And yet when we're stuck at home with our immediate families, we can forget that faces that don't look like ours are dealing with the exact same issues, worries, and stressors. But the wonderful thing is that remembering this can bring us together, even while separated, which is what we truly need to survive this: we need each other, just not in a way that we're used to.

For this post we thought we'd focus on a different representation of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale by the amazing African-American writer Virginia Hamilton, specifically to remind ourselves that this is a worldwide issue, not just a local or national one and that we should be focusing on what we - as people - are doing. 

The wonderful thing about this variant, too, is that instead of focusing on the foreign threat of Rumpelstiltskin, or in this case 'Lit'mahn Bittyun', it focuses on the woman at the center of the crisis, and how she employs her skills and resources at hand to solve the dual dilemma of surviving the king's threat and the magic-man's price.
All the illustrations in this post are by Diane Dillon and Leo Dillon for Hamilton's retelling of Rumpelstiltskin through the Caribbean, or West Indies, lens, titled The Girl Who Spun Gold. In a note in the rear of the book, Hamilton explains there are many cultural variations from different parts of the world (not just Europe) on the tale and that she chose one from the West Indies for her retelling. (Unfortunately, we have not been able to track down a traditional text or recording of the West Indies variant.) While we are keen to find that West Indies source, in the meantime, this book does a wonderful job of shifting our usual - sometimes too familiar - perspective on the tale, and makes us reconsider it in a different light. Gone is the child-snatching threat and instead the story focuses on the girl, who is given a name: 
Meet Quashiba, a beautiful, innocent girl who is about to be made a queen, although she is not a princess. No, she is merely a peasant girl, busy spinning the plainest thread on a day when the king comes riding up to her.“Oh, great Big King,” says her mama, hoping to catch the king’s attention, “my daughter is spinning a whole field of finest golden thread to make cloth for his Highest.”What can Quashiba do about her mama’s terrible lie? For the king decides to marry her, and in a year, he will padlock her in a room and demand that she spin and weave him three whole rooms of golden things.So begins the dramatic, fascinating fairy tale about Quashiba and the tiny, sinister creature who agrees to save her by spinning gold on one condition.During his three nights of spinning and weaving, she has three chances to guess his whole name. If she fails, he will make her tiny and carry her off.What will Quashiba do? (From Virginia Hamilton's website)
For those interested in cultural variations on well-known tales, a discussion of Virginia Hamilton's adaptation and the accompanying illustrations in relation to authentic West Indies cultural traditions and representation is included in the book Fairy Tales with a Black Consciousness: Essays on Adaptations of Familiar Stories (by Vivian Yenika-Agbaw, Ruth McKoy Lowery, et al). After a discussion of language, story rhythm, names, customs, hierarchy, food, and more, the writers concluded this book was a fair cultural representation "warts and all".
Picture of text excerpt from Fairy Tales with a Black Consciousness
But let's return to the main question: how does Rumpelstiltskin explore creativity under stress (or duress!)?
As already mentioned, not only are there many variants of Rumpelstiltskin, but there are as many ways to tell this tale as there are tellers, and everyone will focus on different things. That principle works very well in seeing how Rumpelstiltskin explores stress too. There is a known relationship between stress and creativity but it's a complex one. While many forms of stress do stifle - even ruin - creativity, others can enhance it, and a lot of "which stress has which effect", depends on the point of view of the person. If your goals have true personal meaning to you, (and that doesn't tend to include repetitive tasks or goals you feel are necessary, like cleaning EVERYTHING, EVERY DAY right now!) then that meaning kindles creativity.
"When people reach goals they consider meaningful, Amabile writes in her book, they "feel good, grow their positive self-efficacy," and "get even more revved up to tackle the next job."The relationship between stress and creativity here depends on how you perceive the stress you're under at any given time. Is it connected to a goal you find meaningful? Does it push you to accomplish this goal? If so, that little dose of stress may be helping you think outside the box.." (Teresa Amabile, from her book The Progress Principle)
The truth, though, is that even a "good stressor" can ruin creativity if it happens in excess - something that is more likely to happen in a pandemic/ quarantine/ isolation/ social distancing situation than it would under normal circumstances because these stakes are high... and this is where it's important to know what your limitations are. When to compromise, when to rest and when to accept help (even if it's not ideal) are all very important strategies for both surviving and getting that creativity flowing. Like the heroine in Rumpelstiltskin, sometimes you are out of options and need to acknowledge this task is not something you can do - or at least something that requires irregular help. What the ABC series, Once Upon A Time said continuously is true, though: "Magic always comes with a price..." and that's something that should be taken into consideration. Actions have consequences, even in dire circumstances when the main goal is just survival, and decisions made under these conditions sometimes compromise the result you wanted, possibly even affect the future. Sometimes that means accepting help and not being able to take full credit for a work that's important to you. Sometimes it means paying someone, or bartering a precious resource you have for services. The result of the trade-off is not always immediately apparent and it may change the course of your plans, or the future you had envisioned. Rumpelstiltskin can remind us of that too. 
But not all Rumpelstiltskin variants have helpers who result in negative fallout! Sometimes they are friends in disguise. Sometimes these helpers will become like family. Sometimes the price is that your life will never be the same - and that's a good thing!

We should also point out that the tale underlines fortitude, not giving up, thinking outside the box, adapting to a situation and then, if the endgame is something you are not happy with, (eg. still having to give up your baby!, or, in this case, not wanting to become a teensy person and carried away) that using your wits, using the resources you have now, and again accepting help (though notice this time it's in a different way in the tale the second crisis around) - all these aspects point toward the possibility of having a say in our destinies, no matter what authorities, situations and complications occur. 
We could go on for MUCH longer discussing pertinent parallels and themes that we could consider relevant to today's pandemic crisis but instead, we'll let you figure out how this fairy tale can be a good reference for your own situation, and, hopefully, make you aware of some choices you perhaps didn't realize you had, so that even now, under quarantine, instead of waiting in limbo, you are able to live your best life and look forward to the future.

Quick Reminder: We feel fortunate to help announce the appearance of a benevolent magical helper for all fairy tale and folklore folk, who need "something" to help them get through this time. Carterhaugh's School of Folklore and the Fantastic has created a custom-made-for-this-pandemic-crisis course "Rapunzel's Circle" and it begins MONDAY. Rather than focusing on achievements, assignments and projects, which can be yet another stress, this course is designed to help you find a safe and calm space, to build hope, discover community and help you dip your toe into some creativity if you feel up for it - all with no pressure, obligation or commitment. There is no way to fail this course and you are welcome to be as involved as you want to be. 

Friday, August 16, 2019

A Hodgepodge of Timeless Tales News



If you follow us on Facebook/Twitter or receive our newsletter, you've probably already heard that we've released new editions adding poetry to issues #1-3 (Puss in Boots, Pandora's Box, and Twelve Dancing Princesses). Rather than repeat it all again, I'm going to focus on other news. But if you haven't checked out those five new poems, head over to our LIBRARY and get reading!

So instead, let's start this update off with a reminder that submissions for Hades & Persephone open up on August 25. Full details at https://www.timelesstalesmagazine.com/submissions



What I haven't talked about on social media is the major facelift we've given to ALL our back catalog. Shoutout to our amazing graphic designer, Geoffrey Bunting, for spending almost a year working with me to make everything polished and uniform.

There's far too much new artwork to show off them all, but here's a sample:

Arthurian Legends

Arthurian Legends

Arthurian Legends

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga

Perseus & Medusa

Perseus & Medusa

Perseus & Medusa

Psyche & Cupid

Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin

 Still with me? Cool. Let's wrap up this update by talking about what's next:

1. I'm doing my very first public event on October 12! If you live in Central Texas, come on out to the Texas Teen Book Festival near Austin, TX. We'll have a booth and be giving out hard copies of our magazine!


2. Kindle Editions of all our issues will be coming soon. I've been wanting to offer ebook versions for ages, but it's been so daunting, I've procrastinated until this summer. Stay tuned for details!

3. We're still looking for a volunteer Marketing Assistant to join our team. More details on the original blog post.

4. I'm working on a book review for a collection of socialist fairy tales, so keep an eye out for that soon.

Monday, December 11, 2017

Timeless Tales Modernizes Rumpelstiltskin


Hi, fairy tale fans! This is Tahlia from Timeless Tales Magazine. In case you haven't heard yet, we have just released our Rumpelstiltskin issue. It's full of foolish choices, unforeseen consequences, and battles of wits. 

Here are a few highlights showcasing how our authors transformed a goofy little trickster tale into modern narratives:

  • "Tears Seal the Deal" is a retelling set in the Syrian Refugee Crisis
  • "Void" draws a connection between Rumpel's desire for a child and the frustrations of  infertility.
  • "The Early Years" explores how Rumpel learned to spin straw into gold.
  • "The Deal" allows the Miller's Daughter to find some loopholes in Rumpelstiltskin's bargain and shows what happens when she attempts to outwit him.
Here's a look at some of the covers:

https://www.timelesstalesmagazine.com/rumpelstiltskin




These are just a few of the adventures awaiting you inside our latest issue. Enjoy the read at https://www.timelesstalesmagazine.com/rumpelstiltskin

 

Friday, August 11, 2017

Only One Week Until...

Timeless Tales Rumpelstiltskin Submissions

...Timeless Tales Magazine will open for Rumpelstiltskin submissions! On August 18, they will begin accepting retellings of this classic trickster tale. Short stories or poetry welcome. Pay is a flat rate of $20 per piece. Writers should read the Timeless Tales Submissions page for full details. 

Some musings from from TT's editor, Tahlia: 

Ah, here we are again, gearing up for another issue. What's funny is that we received an astonishing number of poems for our King Arthur issue, but something tells me that a dude with a funny name might not inspire quite as many sonnets as romance and chivalry (SO MANY longing glances and melancholy sighs!). Personally, I believe there's a great deal of potential in the straw-into-gold imagery as a metaphor. We shall see what people come up with. 

If you need inspiration, one of my favorite authors, Vivian Vande Velde, wrote a hilarious book called The Rumpelstiltskin Problem that is devoted solely to picking apart this tale's many plot holes (Why the heck would someone who actually could spin straw into gold do so in exchange for some small pieces of jewelry???). It's a short book and you can probably whiz through it in an evening. 

Most Recent Cover
The cover on my copy of the book



Looking forward to reading everything that gets sent my way. Ready, set, WRITE!

Timeless Tales Magazine

Saturday, April 29, 2017

Dance Theater: Grimm Brothers Get Transported To Age of Social Media To Save Their Literary Legacy in 'Tales of Grimm'

Contemporary parables are woven together with tales of the Brothers Grimm
This unique twist on Grimm’s Fairy Tales places these literary brothers of the 1800s smack into the middle of modern day society. Perplexed by the antics of our 21st century lifestyle, the brothers’ vivid and iconic text literally dances off the page to pull inhabitants of our screen-obsessed, social-media age back into the world of books—and into the stories they thought they knew so well…

When you hear about 'tales of Grimm' you don' usually expect the brothers to make an appearance, let alone watch them in their tale telling and editing. The beauty of this concept shows exactly why and how fairy tales still have something to say.

This production sounds very unique, and if we were local, we'd definitely make time to go see this! Everything we've read about the character and concept development sounds interesting and well thought out - both as an homage to the work of the Grimms in their time (it was much more complex than collecting a bunch of tales and publishing them!), and showing how fairy tales are still as relevant today as they ever were - even taking into account people's obsession with selfies... The production, choreography and dancing too, are getting good critical reviews.

Here's the concept, from toledocitypaper:
Broken into vignettes, each classic tale has been contemporized to cope with modern issues and connected through a fun fourth wall-breaking narrative that invokes an awareness of the audience. The characters themselves emerge from the stories to exist in the real world. And at the forefront of the modern issues being faced is this sort of disconnect between society and another endangered classic art: books. “In a haste to not lose this idea of books, [the Grimm Brothers] rush back to this huge book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales that they have, and they start to rewrite all their stories to fit modern society,” (Director Michael) Lang explained, showing off a few of the props for the forthcoming performance. 
Included in the mix was an ornate gazebo, strung up with braided locks of rope, representing Rapunzel actress Semira Warrick’s lengthy hair and a conference table that will serve as the set piece for Rumpelstiltskin’s impassioned performance. “There’s a very percussive number, and he just pounds away at the table,” said Lang of Rumpelstiltskin actor Phillipe Taylor. “When I read Rumpelstiltskin, I thought, ‘You can say what you want about Rumpelstiltskin, but he did do the work.’”
“This show is such a twist on these tales and will not be what anyone is expecting,” Lang said. “The retold stories have a unique connection to the originals, and yet, are profoundly relative and anchored in today.”  (this last quote from The Blade)
The Toledo Ballet calls this piece more 'dance theater', which implies it's more theatrical in terms of presentation and story, as opposed to pure dance, and there's certainly a lot to be communicated in this one. On their Facebook page, for teaser purposes, the company posted a picture representing a section or character of the ballet, along with a neat summary.

We really like how they looked at different aspects of the fairy tales and found the human and still relevant thread in them, to explore. How the Grimm brothers, navigating modern society for the first time, help do this, is to be revealed and part of the fun.

Oh - and you might be surprised at some of the tale inclusions as well... Kudos to the director and writers who chose to boldly include How Some Children Played At Slaughtering, along with nods to other lesser known Grimm tales.

Take a look at some of the teasers below:

Opening the Book - As our book opens, the Brothers Grimm are mysteriously transported to an altered world of obliviousness and folly. While navigating through this unfamiliar sea of electronic glow, they struggle to find purpose and anxiously watch their literary “ship” sail off in the distance. Determined to save it, they revisit their tales and laboriously search for compromise.Little Red Cap - In an electronically obsessed world where all are accessible to many, our Modern-Day Red is warned to stay on the path. Ignoring parental admonitions, she quickly discovers that one can never be certain who the predators are or where they await!

Briar Rose - Bearing witness to the malice of his daughter’s childhood journey, a father’s love and desperate desire to protect provokes him to close her eyes from uncertainty, heartache, and pain. In time, he recognizes that by obsessively closing her eyes from the world she ends up with no world at all!


“Hansel” & Gretel - Overwhelmed by the endless tasks of motherhood, and frustrated by her sluggish husband, “Hansel” & Gretel’s modern-day mom fantasizes of taking her young offspring deep into the woods … and leaving them there! Her dream of freedom and self-indulgence is suddenly interrupted by Gretel’s cry for rescue from a tyrant old teacher. Her maternal instincts quickly remind her that, in reality, she would assiduously fight any battle for the family she loves.

Rapunzel - From the expectations constructed by society’s “tower”, Modern-day Rapunzel contemplates her “braids” of doubt, fear, guilt, and hope. Releasing the grips of entanglement, she reflects and ponders upon her place in a world yet to come.

How Some Children Played at Slaughtering - Each generation cries, “The world has gone mad,” though a journey through history reveals a far more reprehensible past! Exposed to a constant barrage of violence, our unattended children create a “game” of their own.

Rumpelstiltskin - Discouraged by nepotism and a bias environment, our modern-day Rumpel strives for a beat of his own. He industriously follows the rules of his daily grind until a bombardment of injustice forces him to his breaking point.

The Little Glowing Hand - 
Torn from the pages of her literary existence, Storybook Red struggles to make out her peculiar new surrounds. Her curiosities are intrigued by the illumined hands that appear to guide the bizarre ways of her unacquainted peers. Feeling scared and alone she studies a Modern-Day Teen in search of familiarity, understanding, and home.


The Displacement of Red - Feeling anxious and muddled, Storybook Red endures her bewildering journey. Alarmed by the tatters of her rapidly fading pages, she clings to the mast of her fairy-tale “ship”. She discovers the book that may provide resolution; but her efforts are blocked by her uneasy source. 

It's billed as a family friendly production and the company has had some wonderful promos during April at the Toldeo Lucas County Public Library. Check out some of those pics below:


As you may have gathered from the summaries above, however, this production, while being family friendly is not 'kiddie' - something some colleagues of ours have been discussing recently: quality theater for young audiences. Parents in particular may want the heads-up that the production doesn't shy away from some pretty harsh realities: bullying, oppression, murder and even genocide are all alluded to at least, if not represented, but then, if you will recall, it's in the Grimm texts as well. It all depends on how these are handled. We haven't seen this ourselves to be able to assess how all these issues are portrayed, but between the promos and this lively 9 minute interview you can listen to online  HERE that talks about this exact issue of bringing children to the show, hopefully you can make a good assessment for any children you're wanting to take. (Note: the link worked at the time of posting but we don't know how long it will be available to listen to.) Here's what the director Michael Lang said to the Toledo City Paper:
... while Tales of Grimm is ultimately a family-friendly performance, the stories contained within hew closely to the original tales put forth by the occasionally macabre Grimm Bros. These aren’t the Disneyfied translations one might otherwise expect from the former dancer-turned-director who was one of the original cast members of Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. “I don’t save [Red Riding Hood] in the end. I feel like with this message, it needs to be a message. This doesn’t always end well. I’ve got a lot of lighthearted moments as well, but there are a lot of moments that make people sit back and go, ‘Oh wow.’”
“I’m on this kind of quest, and I think that’s why the theme of this show has turned out like it has, to get people to put their phones down for a little bit and get back to theater and art,” said (Director Michael) Lang. “ Dance is always a tough sell, but this is for everybody, not just the people that love ballet.” 
You only have tonight and tomorrow to go catch this show! Quick! Go grab a ticket! (And then tell us all about it, would you?)