Thursday
Mar242011
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Wonderland Left Me With A Sense of Muddled Disconnection
Thursday, March 24, 2011
I forgot to tell you about that time we went to the ballet!
We went to the ballet. I was given a pair of free tickets to go see the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Wonderland, and I hadn't been to the ballet in quite a while, so off we went.
I would like to be able to tell you I loved it! What culture!, because I don't want to look like some kind of uncultured boob and I love Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland and the review in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix was good, but I'm maybe going to have to look like some kind of uncultured boob, because I didn't love it.
The set was amazing. You can't tell from the above picture, because I was a good citizen and put my camera away during the performance. They used panels and gauzy curtains, light and video projection, and wheeled white boxes to create a pared down yet entirely otherworldly set that completely captured me. I've never seen anything quite like it, and the set was marvellous enough that it nearly made the show worth seeing. The choreography, though, left a lot to be desired if you were looking for any clear thread of a storyline or relationships between characters during most of the performance.
The least engaging character throughout the entire ballet was the main character of Alice, which is weird, because she was on the stage most of the time, but half that time was spent either slowly wandering or running from one end to the other while other characters were being far more engaging. Engaging, though, is relative, because, even though I am highly familiar with the characters in the story, I was hard pressed to recognize who many of them were during the performance.
For the most part, the choreography between characters did little to flesh out the relationships between them, and so the storyline was often unclear if completely obscured, even for me, a person who owns several volumes of the story in question. Neither I nor the Palinode even figured out who the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle were until after the ballet was over.
The Queen of Hearts and the Dormouse were the only truly stand-out characters, and they were fabulous. The Queen of Hearts was a large and loud and comical mess of a personality, but the marked strength of her character, although the saving grace of the entire ballet as one of the few characters to have clear relationships within the story, also managed to underscore the weakness of the other roles.
The dancers were more than competent, and the sets were fantastic, but the lacklustre treatment of the character of Alice was not a strong enough thread to pull me through the chaos that was Wonderland. The performances and sets, while beautiful to watch as parts separate from the whole, created little sense of a storyline when strung together, and, as the ballet fell further and further into a sense of muddled disconnection, I fought off the urge to leave.
We went to the ballet. I was given a pair of free tickets to go see the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Wonderland, and I hadn't been to the ballet in quite a while, so off we went.
I would like to be able to tell you I loved it! What culture!, because I don't want to look like some kind of uncultured boob and I love Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland and the review in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix was good, but I'm maybe going to have to look like some kind of uncultured boob, because I didn't love it.
The set was amazing. You can't tell from the above picture, because I was a good citizen and put my camera away during the performance. They used panels and gauzy curtains, light and video projection, and wheeled white boxes to create a pared down yet entirely otherworldly set that completely captured me. I've never seen anything quite like it, and the set was marvellous enough that it nearly made the show worth seeing. The choreography, though, left a lot to be desired if you were looking for any clear thread of a storyline or relationships between characters during most of the performance.
The least engaging character throughout the entire ballet was the main character of Alice, which is weird, because she was on the stage most of the time, but half that time was spent either slowly wandering or running from one end to the other while other characters were being far more engaging. Engaging, though, is relative, because, even though I am highly familiar with the characters in the story, I was hard pressed to recognize who many of them were during the performance.
For the most part, the choreography between characters did little to flesh out the relationships between them, and so the storyline was often unclear if completely obscured, even for me, a person who owns several volumes of the story in question. Neither I nor the Palinode even figured out who the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle were until after the ballet was over.
The Queen of Hearts and the Dormouse were the only truly stand-out characters, and they were fabulous. The Queen of Hearts was a large and loud and comical mess of a personality, but the marked strength of her character, although the saving grace of the entire ballet as one of the few characters to have clear relationships within the story, also managed to underscore the weakness of the other roles.
The dancers were more than competent, and the sets were fantastic, but the lacklustre treatment of the character of Alice was not a strong enough thread to pull me through the chaos that was Wonderland. The performances and sets, while beautiful to watch as parts separate from the whole, created little sense of a storyline when strung together, and, as the ballet fell further and further into a sense of muddled disconnection, I fought off the urge to leave.
categorized in general and tagged in Alice In Wonderland, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Wonderland, arts, ballet, culture, dancing
general and tagged in Alice In Wonderland, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Wonderland, arts, ballet, culture, dancing 
Reader Comments (10)
When I open up my reader, it starts out your story, then says Image: Aiden and I at the ballet!
I mis-read that to say Imagine! Aiden and I at the ballet!
the reality was just as good, but a different post than I was expecting!!
I have never been interested in the ballet. I tried to get it, but I just don't. I'm more of a symphony or school play kind of gal.
I'm glad you posted this. The RWB is coming to Toronto with Wonderland and I was hoping to take my 14 y/o dancer daughter to it, especially since her favourite book is Alice in Wonderland. Instead, I think I'll spend my money on another ballet that the National Ballet is performing this year. Luckily we'll be seeing Billy Elliot next week. c:
Found your blog today while searching google for Winnipeg blogs. Added yours to my daily reads.
I haven't been to the ballet since I saw Dracula in the early 2000's. Seeing the demons hump the bedposts on the four poster bed was enough to scare me away for a while... Headed to the MTC next week, though, so all is not lost. ;-)
Aw, how disappointing. At least the tix were free!
Just come back from seeing ballet in Vancouver. I wished I would have seen your blog earlier. Your analysis was bang on. A solid 6 out of 10.
I felt the same way. The review in the Star Phoenix said something about how great Alice was and I just couldn't give a crap about her.
I totally disagree. I loved Wonderland, although I'll admit it starts off slowly. I was blown away by the blonde dancer who played Alice. The other characters were so broadly drawn - larger than life, but she had the more difficult and subtle task of being a regular person. Not only did she have a beautiful quality of movement, I could read in her face and body language her enchantment with the woods at the beginning of the ballet, her befuddlement when she landed in Wonderland and glimsed the Looney Toons, her amusement at Tweedledee and Tweedledum, her confusion, her fear and, finally, her mixed emotions about leaving Wonderland. I agree that the choreographer should have had her dancing more and running less, but I still thought she was the most compelling character. Funny how different people get different things from dance, art, music etc. It's all so personal.
All the professional print-media critics seem to feel constrained to say great things about "Wonderland", which is why I cam hunting up some critical blogs: because I, and the entire company of everyone I know who saw Wonderland last night (most of them balletomanes who have held season subscriptions to the Alberta Ballet and its guest companies for decades) were disappointed to the point of being embarrassed for the dancers.
Sure, Dale, the dancer who played Alice showed impressive expression and conveyed emotion beautifully. She's a RWB dancer: that's part of their special character. But she had so little to work with: vaudeville-worthy choreography, bad sit-com style humour in the gross rudeness of the Red Queen, preachy morality from the narrator whose lines suggest that the choreographer has no experience with insight and fantasy himself and assumes the same coarseness on the part of his audience.
And no, the Red Queen with her megaphone did not redeem the show: she just abused the Jubilee's excellent acoustics to the point that many of the audience could be seen sticking fingers in their ears.
I saw this production at the NAC last year. I have been a subscriber to the ballet series at the NAC for the past four years and this was a huge disappointment. My partner and I didn't fight off the urge to leave-we split at the intermission, the first time ever...we just couldn't stand any more of it. I agree with the analysis of Alice's role...running back and forth and looking in awe at whatever...not a lot of technical work...the Dormouse was annoying and the whole thing was just a confusing muddle. That being said, I attended the same company's production of "Svengali" last night and it was fantastic! So, it's not the company, or the dancers, it's the subject material.