Livestream, National Taichung Theater, Taiwan
August 1, 2021
Around one hundred and fifty years ago, Lewis Carroll wrote his books on Alice’s adventures. His extraordinary characters have been a magnet to creative minds ever since. The books have never been out of print and have spawned re-imaginings in many different mediums including dance. While the characters are pregnant with possibilities the text poses challenges. The ‘nonsense’ genre has its own logic driven by character rather than plot, with words consciously manipulated in a playful and entertaining manner. For his Alice (愛麗絲夢遊仙境), created in collaboration with the dance company of Luzern Theater, choreographer and founder director of B.DANCE (丞舞製作團隊), Tsai Po-cheng (蔡博丞), has wisely written his own story as he takes the weird and wonderful creatures of Alice’s fantasy and transported them to a hybrid Eastern world.
The setting is magical, created by a well-coordinated artistic team. The play of lights (by Otto Chang, 張廷仲) envelops the stage in colours so vivid, they seem tangible. Individual panels arced as a background create entrances and exits while providing a canvas for imaginative videos from Chang Po-chih (張博智). The choreography, innovative and exciting makes good use of the technical ability of the dancers and has a sensitive partner in the range of music conjured up by Rockid Lee (李銘杰).
Photo Ho Chao-sheng
Alice, Liu Ming-hsuan (劉明軒), is as feisty and self-assured as Carroll’s heroine. Bright eyed and ever curious she steps in where angels would fear to tread. Her companions, Lee Hang-cheng (李杭澄) as the White Rabbit and Tseng Wen-yu (曾文譽) as the Mad Hatter, a decidedly eccentric pair, are a constant presence in the work.
Lee, in place of bunny ears is decorated with a pair of extraordinary antennae that have a dance language of their own to complement his graceful, fluid movement. Tseng is a weightier presence, substituting a silver helmet in place of the usual top hat and showing brilliant gymnastic moves.
The first act is gentle with the oddball characters confidently celebrating their individuality. Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Zhan Shu-hui (詹舒惠) and Liu Chieh-wen (柳婕文) are a duo of two tall females in wiggly striped dresses, dancing in equally imaginative patterns while Ho Ting-i (何亭儀) as the Cheshire Cat in smart black and white suit, is suitably feline.
Photo Ho Chao-sheng
The harmony of Act One is interrupted by the belligerent Knave of Hearts, Tseng Hsing (曾行). Heralded by red neon streaks in the backdrop, he stamps his authority in an astoundingly good performance. Tsai gets to prove his mastery of ensemble structure with his battle cohort manipulating their red hats to form a phalanx of shields in witty and cogent moves.
Alice has an alter-ego in the Queen of Hearts, Chang Chen-ning (張宸寧), her dress an identical copy in scarlet. Red Alice initially takes the upper hand but Alice and her two companions seem invincible. A clever coup de theatre has the pair balancing on the shoulders of their supporters. Alice simply reaches forward and with a gentle push topples her Red rival.
As in a dream the world of danger falls apart and we return to a benign fantasy. An enthusiastic rabbit scampers on stage, followed by the curious Alice and, true to form, she disappears down the rabbit hole.