Roola Boola Children's Art Festival 2017 - Melbourne - Review

Kate took her little ones to see the performance of Once Upon A Time at Chapel Off Chapel this morning and were mesmerised by the beautiful ballet performance by Melbourne City Ballet. The performance was part of the Roola Boola Children's Art Festival which is on until the 14th of July. Thank you to What's on Stonnington for having us and for Kate for this review. xo Catherine

Photo credit: What's On Stonnington

With a program packed full with interactive performances and workshops spanning theatre, dance, music, magic, circus and craft to inspire and encourage children to get up and moving, it’s no wonder that the Roola Boola Children’s Art Festival is one of Melbourne’s most loved, annual school holiday events.

Photo credit: @kateflatman for @busycitykids

As part of the festival, we attended the exciting new children’s ballet, “Once Upon A Time”, performed by artists of Melbourne City Ballet and choreographed by Brendan Bradshaw.

Photo credit: @kateflatman for @busycitykids

This 45 minute production - suitable for little ones 3 years and over - followed the beautiful Little Red Riding Hood as she set out on an adventure through the forest to her grandmother's house. With a basket of homemade chocolate chip cookies (that she baked with the help of the Three Blind Mice), Little Red Riding Hood met plenty of new friends on her journey, including the Three Little Pigs and Little Bo Peep and with her new friends' help escaped the Big Bad Wolf.

Photo credit: @kateflatman for @busycitykids

The poppets absolutely loved this performance; giggling at the clumsy Three Blind Mice, pointing out the curly, pink tails on the bottoms of the Three Little Pigs and dancing along to the beautiful accompanying soundtrack. Meeting the cast after the show was certainly an added bonus too. Master Arlo even tried to steal a cookie from the basket!

Photo credit: @kateflatman for @busycitykids

The Roola Boola Children’s Art Festival is on now until Friday 14th July and with fantastic free and ticketed events happening daily, it is guaranteed to put a smile on your dial! Head to their website for more details.

For more July School Holidays ideas, head to our Holiday Guide.

To follow Kate and her poppets' adventures around Melbourne, head to her Instagram page.

For more ideas on what to do with the little ones, head to our blog or CBD Top 5 FREE activities or our popular Daily Spots List.