Night at the Ballet

Last night I saw Alice in Wonderland at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. It is considered the place for dance performances in Los Angeles. The building is beautiful with fountains, chandeliers, and grand staircases. It has over 1,000 seats and the show was pretty full last night.

Alice in Wonderland was performed by the National Ballet of Canada. It was a good combination of classical and weird, but I think that is because the story in general has some weird characters. I think the biggest challenge for the director was telling the story while dealing with all of the set changes. Alice goes from place to place in the story and they had to do a lot of special effects to make it work. It felt a little busy and rushed.

Alice was a great technical dancer, but I didn't feel any attachment to her. The Queen of Hearts however was fantastic. She stole the show in the second half of the ballet. She had personality and I really enjoyed watching her. The caterpillar was another highlight. I loved the rhinestones on the point shoes!










I think my favorite part of going to the ballet is seeing all of the 5 and 6 year old girls dressed up in their fancy dresses and spinning around in line pretending to be ballerinas. They are adorable. I enjoy seeing their excitement because when I watch the stick figures up on stage I like to think about when the dancers were young and what made them fall in love with ballet. Dance is hard, but the passion and love for movement has to come through to inspire others. I hope Alice in Wonderland gave a few little girls big dreams.