A Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Still (picture by the Hong Kong Ballet)
The Hong Kong Ballet will tour Beijing from November 15 to 16 to mark its 45th anniversary, the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Will National Centre for the Performing Arts in “NCPA Dance Festival 2024”, which will be the first performance of the ballet in mainland China. Choreographed by the Director of Hong Kong ballet, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is a combination of dance, theatre and puppetry, featuring a costume designer from Cirque du Soleil and a Broadway choreographer, hong Kong ballet shows the charm of fashion and diversified style. The tour has the full support of the UOB United Overseas Bank.
The classic fairy tale turns into a fantasy ballet
One of the world’s most famous fairy tales, the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by the 19th-century British writer Lewis Carroll, has been a worldwide phenomenon since its inception in 1865, influence continues to this day. Unlike many princesses’ fairy tales, “The Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” focuses on a child’s point of view, using the imagination of a little girl’s dream, it is regarded as the foundational work of modern fantasy literature, which combines profound philosophy, sharp satire and rich metaphor while embarking on the adventure of magical humor.
“The Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” has been the inspiration for many artistic forms, including films, animations and stage productions, every generation of children has an Alice in their hearts. “Alice” on the ballet stage is not uncommon. The The Royal Ballet, National Ballet of Canada and Australian Ballet have all produced works on related topics, the Hong Kong Ballet version, which is about to be introduced to Beijing audiences, is also one of the best in the ballet“Alice” in recent years.
Choreographed by the Artistic Director of the Hong Kong ballet, seung-tin wai, “The Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” was first staged by the Washington Ballet in 2012 and the Hong Kong Ballet in 2018, she won three awards at the 2019 Hong Kong Dance Awards: Outstanding Female Dancer, Outstanding Group Dance Performance and Outstanding Costume Design. It was described by the Hong Kong media as“A tour that shows the world in a big way.”“Out of the Blue, ideas come out and it’s easy to see how difficult it is.”“The choreography is lively and the stage design is colorful and diverse.”
The production combines traditional ballet with contemporary dance, presenting the childlike Alice, the White Rabbit, the Queen of Hearts, the Mad Hatter and other characters in a highly challenging ballet sequence, presents the magic charm as a dream in the Fairyland. Famous scenes such as the mysterious rabbit hole, the pool formed by tears, and the Croquet match in the poker garden will be presented to the audience by the unpredictable magic of the stage, it’s mind-boggling. Art director Wei Chengtian laughed and said, “The audience should fasten their seat belts! This is going to be an exciting journey!”
A Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Still (picture by the Hong Kong Ballet)
Dopamine color + creative puppets to create an imaginative children’s fun stage
Hong Kong’s answer to the question of how the magical“Wonderland” of Alice’s world would be presented on stage could be described as“Bold”. On stage, it was as if a palette full of dopamine-colored paints had been overturned, the bright, dreamy colors collide and harmonize with each other, bringing a rush of enthusiasm and vitality, depicting a fantasy fairy tale world.
The show’s visual concept and costume design was created by french-canadian costume designer Liz Vandal, her signature piece is a natural and fantasy costume designed for Cirque du Soleil’s world-famous touring show Ovo. Her Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland designs in “Alice” continue her bold, eye-catching style, with classic blue-and-white “Alice” dresses fitted with detailed fabrics and tailoring, more highlight the dynamic dance ballet and the figures of the image of girls, the Fluffy White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter who wears colored mosaics, the cool and sculptural queen of Hearts and other characters all echo the description of the original novel, at the same time without losing fashion and pioneer. The Dodo, Cheshire Cat, dormouse, hookah-smoking caterpillar, twin brothers“Eight catties eight taels”, poker soldiers and many other characters in the play is the creator’s whimsical ideas. “Everything on stage is strange and mysterious,” says Lizzy Vandal. “Every dress has a little secret or a little surprise!”
“Alice in Wonderland” was created by the broadway-based British choreographer James Cronzer, who created a kaleidoscope of stages, with his uncanny stage-vision “Magic,” the audience will follow Elise as he grows and shrinks, seeing the scale of the world as it changes, switching between Macro and micro perspectives in an instant, elise will also be accompanied by the footsteps of the mountains and seas, into the hall, with the imagination of measuring every inch of the dream world, meet every segment of magic fate.
It is worth mentioning that the play’s strange characters and animals, not only the dancers to play, but also full of ingenuity to add puppet elements. Designed by artist Eric Van Wijk, the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is an innovative puppet that breaks away from traditional puppetry, with the whole play jumping off the visual rhythm complement each other.
The Hong Kong ballet’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” will be Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay next in February after its Beijing performance.
About the Hong Kong Ballet
The Hong Kong Ballet -HKBAhkba) is internationally renowned for its unique charm, outstanding works and superb interpretationHonghKongkoChinahina. The company has evolved since 1979 and is now a vibrant performing arts group with an emphasis on quality, a rich repertoire and a forward-looking community development programme. Hong Kong Ballet has 50 elite dancers from all over the world, winning support and recognition from all over the world.
The A Herb Kong repertoire includes reproductions of classical treasures, Balanchine’s new classical masterpieces, full-length ballet specially created for the Hong Kong Ballet and works with Hong Kong characteristics, from time to time, he will perform works by renowned choreographers such as Romansky, Whelton, mcgregor, Pech, Julian Gillian, Jean-luc Duatau and Ochoa, including works by resident choreographer Hu Songwei and new choreographers from Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Ballet has made nearly 50 world tours to 11 countries, including Europe, the United States and Asia in recent years. In addition, the Hong Kong Ballet has organised a series of award-winning community activities and cross-boundary collaborative performances throughout the territory with a view to popularising ballet. At the same time, a number of original videos and dance videos have been produced and broadcast on the Internet, connect ballet lovers from all over the world.