A ballet with a difference

Ballet is not a form of art that I am accustomed to. I bumped into this programme on BBC by chance. Immediately it caught my eyes.

I noticed the difference between this ballet and traditional ones that I have seen before. The ballet made use of modern technology, which helped to make the scenes more interesting and engaging to the audience. The background images were projected, probably computer-aided. This allowed the background to vary and change dynamically. Shielded by some white fabric with light-effect that created the "water" image, Alice swam up the "water tank". I couldn't help wondering "how did they do that?" in this and some other scenes. Without technology, it was not possible to produce the many background scenes.

The show did not rely entirely on high-tech. The Cheshire Cat was put together by several pieces of 3D cardboards (which made it more interesting than using one piece). The choreography may be modern; the dance moves were very much traditional.

Lewis Carroll's book gave the ballet an interesting storyline to build on. The humour enhanced the ballet. The costumes and the props added to the attractive of the ballet. The Red Queen's "frock" conceals a guard. The technology and the props used added demands on the dancers, who faced complications that traditional ballet dancers didn’t have to deal with. The dancers were brilliant. The ballet was long but never dull. The arrangements were attractive. Overall, this was a superb performance.

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