So… Having seen a previous ballet by this company and seeing this one advertised then, I decided I wanted to go and see it when it was being broadcast live at my cinema this evening.
I felt this was a really creative interpretation of Alice in Wonderland. There were some really beautiful scenes and costumes in this.
It was really cool to see the tap dancing Mad Hatter, though I would have been intrigued to see the hip hopping one. Still, in the second interval, we were shown a kind of ‘dance off’ between the two Mad Hatters, which I felt was really good. It was also really awesome to see the history behind this ballet being made.
I have a lot of respect for the ballet dancers in this. I didn’t need the explanation of the storyline in the program. I felt that the dancers showed what was going on really well through their actions in the ballet.
I really liked the music in the ballet, too. I noticed a deviation to a more Arabian style of music at one point… but I felt it did really work and fit quite seamlessly.
The interpretations of the characters and creatures were really interesting, too. I liked how the Cheshire Cat was portrayed in this. I felt his appearance, in particular, worked really well.
What was also good, I felt, was how certain events were shown in the ballet, such as Alice’s fall through the rabbit hole – that felt incredibly disorientating. The sea of her tears was shown in quite a cool, unique way, too.
There were a couple of quite amusing moments in this, particularly when the Queen of Hearts was showing off her dancing. (It helped to have the history of that scene explained, too…) There were also a couple of scenes that were really quite disturbing.
All in all, I felt this was a really good portrayal of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I liked the slight spin with the knave, too, and the scene at the start.
Ink of Blood 