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SPOTLIGHT: CTCB keeping ballet fresh and festive with ALICE IN WONDERLAND
- Beverley Brommert
- Nov 18
- 3 min read
Beverley Brommert
As Christmas approaches with its freight of Yuletide fare, Cape Town City Ballet (CTCB) announces the treat in store for its audiences at the end of 2025: a surprise. Instead of the predictable NUTCRACKER or CHRISTMAS CAROL, the company's Artistic Manager Tracy Li has opted for something refreshingly different...
ALICE IN WONDERLAND is an all-new work to be added to the repertoire in December this year, and there is more to justify this choice for the festive season than one might think.
As Li remarks, it is a ballet for the whole family, a timeless adventure fantasy familiar to children while also resonating with adults; it has the added merit of appealing to those who do not necessarily celebrate Christmas, but enjoy some entertaining relaxation at the end of a year's work.
From the performers' point of view, this departure from the tried-and-tested formula of a "safe" December tradition represents a healthy challenge to step beyond their comfort zone in a collective endeavour to create something brand-new.
"It's all about team work, embracing a learning curve together; some anxiety and a few nerves are useful spurs to achievement," comments Li.
Planning for CTCB's ALICE began as early as October, 2024, when Li contacted internationally renowned choreographer Gerard Charles (known to her through David Nixon, who earlier that year had created the ballet I'VE GOT RHYTHM for the CTCB) with a view to expanding the company's repertoire for young patrons. "Something accessible, intimate and not too long".
Charles, currently Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Dance in London, had already adapted Lewis Carroll's classic for the BalletMet in Columbus USA in 2006, and he is now overseeing the production of this new version for CTCB.
"We have three weeks of work behind us, and five to go, of the eight weeks scheduled for preparation," says Li, who then shares some information about what audiences can expect.
A combination of "real" props and AV will provide the context for the action, devised to evoke the Edwardian age in which ALICE was created, as does music mostly by Elgar.
Collaboration plays a significant role in the staging, lighting design and costuming of this production as respected exponents of the above arts combine forces: Kirsti Cumming (AV), Faheem Bardien (lighting), and CTCB's Wardrobe is joined by Cape Carnival for costuming and hats enlivened with all the vibrant creativity of the latter. Li is adamant in asserting that there are no gimmicks in the staging, as artistry remains key.
Actors and children from different communities will appear alongside dancers to interpret the variety of creatures encountered by Alice in the course of her expedition to another world - which has the effect of diversifying performers and audiences alike.
"Each performance will feature four different Alices, reflecting her passage from little girl to pre-teen, with two dancers for her reflection in the looking glass," explains Li, identifying Rainbow College student Amahle Cindy Nyeka as a noteworthy inclusion in the quartet.
Amahle's role is that of actress as opposed to dancer, and her talent has already been discerned by Gerrard Charles.
There are five main dancing roles: Hatter, Alice, Rabbit, Red King and White King, and in addition to performing en pointe in classical execution, the artists involved are required to achieve maximum eloquence as this is a narrative ballet. To this end, they are benefitting from two weeks of coaching from visiting theatre director Steven Anderson.
Interviewing Tracy Li in a studio where the first props, fresh from the hands of the craftsmen, have just been delivered in all their quirky elegance, and dancers arrive for a rehearsal, one senses a storm of creative energy brewing around this new work for the festive season. And no doubt beyond.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND will be presented at Artscape from 12 to 28 December 2025 with evening performances at 7pm and select afternoon performances at 12pm, 2pm and 4:30pm. All performances will be danced to recorded music and tickets cost from Webtickets and Artscape Dial-A-Seat on 0214217695. No Under 5’s at evening performances.