Once upon a time — in January and February, to be specific — the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts scheduled three events dealing with fables and fairy tales.

First, the BackStage Book Club’s January selection is Transformations, Anne Sexton’s poetic meditation on Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Next, on Jan. 29, the public is invited to a free Forum on the topic “Fables, Fairy Tales and the Arts,” asking “What’s unique about the way fairy tales and fables have touched the arts, as compared to other forces (politics, literature, psychology, et al)?”

Forum participants are listed as UC Davis Professor Della Davidson, who set Transformations to dance; Lucy Corin, assistant professor of English, whose fiction is touched by fable; and Brenda Schildgen, professor and director of the Comparative Literature Program, and co-editor of The World of Fables.

Forum organizers said Jeffrey Callison of KXJZ radio’s Insight program will be the moderator. The forum is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the Studio Theatre.

The fairy tale theme wraps up with Cinderella, presented by the State Ballet Theatre of Russia, at 8 p.m. Feb. 6 in Jackson Hall. (Ticket availability is limited.)

The full-length production features Vladimir Vasiliev’s choreography and Sergei Prokofiev’s music, performed by the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra.

A preperformance lecture by Ruth Rosenberg, Mondavi Center dance consultant, is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the AGR Room at the Buehler Alumni and Visitors