Alice En Pointe

For part of last month, the National Ballet of Canada was in DC performing the contemporary ballet, Alice in Wonderland, at the Kennedy Center. Since Kevin's cousin was dancing in it (as the Red Queen) we went to see it. Along with what seemed like Kevin's entire family. I'm still not sure how everyone was related, but I believe there was a great-grandparent that everyone had in common.

The ballet itself was a lot of fun. I definitely recommend that you go see it if you get a chance. We were way up in the highest balcony, but that made it easier to see the entire stage. And since there was often a lot going, that was definitely a good thing. The show was aimed at kids more than adults, so it had two 20-minute intermissions to break things up. There were also some really fun sets and multimedia effects to aid the illusion of Alice growing and shrinking.

The producers of the show aged Alice a bit and injected a romance into the story to tie everything together. They wanted the story to have a definite plot and flow, rather than the series of disconnected adventures that the book leans more towards. So in the real world, Alice's mother is throwing a garden party and her secret boyfriend Jack is in charge of the flower arrangements. He sneaks a rose to Alice, prompting her to steal a jam tart for him. When Alice's mother discovers (and misunderstands) the situation, Jack is fired and Alice is off to Wonderland, on a mission to save the innocent Jack (Knave) of Hearts, who's been accused of stealing tarts from the Queen of Hearts.

This plot thread serves to tie together Alice's adventures and gives her a larger purpose, but all of the adventures are still there. And they become even more fun if you have a decent sense of the history of theater. The Mad Hatter is reminiscent of the tap dancers in 42nd Street (I was so excited to have a tap dancing interlude in the ballet). The Duchess, her cook, and the baby who becomes a pig nod to Sweeney Todd. And the flowers that welcome Alice when she finally makes it to the queen's garden should put everyone in mind of The Nutcracker.

I'm so glad we were able to see this show. It made me realize how much I miss ballet. Not that I'll ever dance again (probably), but just going and being surrounded by it is so much fun. It's probably why I'm drawn to Bunheads, as cheesy as that show is. There's something about the dance world that I really miss. So here's hoping we have a chance to see more ballet in the future.