We all know the story of The Little Mermaid or at least the Disney version of it. The mermaid spots a handsome prince on land, she does everything possible to become human, trading in her mermaid's tail and power for two very unsteady human legs. Eventually she and the prince fall in love and marry.

But that's not the way Hans Christensen Andersen wrote his fairy tale published in 1837. Yes, the mermaid falls in love with the prince and makes enormous painful sacrifices to enter his world. But he doesn't return her affection and in fact, marries a princess. The mermaid is doomed to die the next day unless, the Sea Witch tells her, she kills the prince.

A version much closer to the original Andersen tale is about to open with Houston Ballet dancers on the Wortham Center stage.

In his own life, Andersen was thought to be bisexual and had his own share of unrequited love. In famed choreographer John Neumeier's version, Neumeier has incorporated that into his ballet, adding the character of the Poet who sadly remembers the wedding of a close friend to someone else before telling the Mermaid's story.

“I believe that Hans Christian Andersen wrote the story about his love for someone who could not return that love,” say Neumeier. “I made him a character in the piece evolving as he is creating it before our eyes. The little mermaid is really a mirror image of Andersen. He creates her in a sense as a manifestation of his soul.”

Houston Ballet Soloist Danbi Kim (who deliverd a standout performance in Midsummer Night's Dream) is one of the ballerinas dancing the Mermaid role and major reason why she was excited to do it was because of the way Neumeier conceived of, "a friend type of love."Just because one person intensely loves another and is dedicated to them, doesn't mean the second person has to love that person back, she said.

Her relationship with ballet is similar, Kim says, laughing. "No matter how much I love ballet, some days ballet doesn't love me back."

Her character, Kim says, she changes a little bit during the ballet. "In the water she’s powerful but still very delightful and wanting to explore the world. So she’s looking up at the ship where the prince is and she's excited that it’s here but she's sad at the same time because she can't get to him.

"The way she’s acting with the prince it was almost childish. But in the second act she goes through a lot of hesitation and confusion. . It's different than the Ariel  you’re thinking of if you’re thinking of the Disney Little Mermaid.

They have a simulation of a mermaid tail but since they are dancing, Kim and the other mermaids instead very long pants in the Japanese theater tradition. The dancers found them easy to trip over initially, she says. .

In real life she says she doesn't like to swim, She went to classes at age 5 and her skill level pretty much stopped there. So she's adopting movements from the safety of her bathtub. And in rehearsals she says, she's been learning mermaid movements rather than ballet movements. "I had a really hard rehearsal yesterday bc I was trying to make ballet shapes instead of not have mermaid shapes."

Then, of course, when she adopts human form, there's more movement difficulties ahead since her character isn't used to walking or using fingers.

Growing up in South Korea, Kim began taking after school dancing classes at the age of 3. Initially she like traditional folk dancing better. but an early teacher of hers persuaded her that her talents lay more in classical ballet.

Asked why she likes this version of The Little Mermaid and people should come see it, Kim says "It has more connection to real life, real feelings. It's more realistic relating to this character and this sitution. Other than the story line it's just beautiful and the lighting design is really cool. You an come watch it. You can just watch and enjoy."

Performances are scheduled for  September 6-15 at 7 p.m. Friday, September 6, 7:30 p.m. Friday September 13 and Saturdays September 7 and 14, 1:30 p.m. Saturday September 14 and 2 p.m. Sundays  September 8 and 15 at the Wortham Center, 501 Texas. For more information, call 713-727-2787 or visit houstonballet.org. $25-$160.