SPOTLIGHT: Isabella Blair shares ALICE IN WONDERLAND ballet excitement

Beverley Brommert

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This Christmas brings a breath of fresh air to ballet entertainment in the Mother City, with Cape Town City Ballet's brand new production of ALICE IN WONDERLAND and some new faces coming to the fore in its execution.

Isabella Blair who alternates as Alice /The White Queen and Luke Wragg, newest member of Cape Town City Ballet from the UK who shares the role of the Rabbit. Photo by Caitlin Smith.

Currently rehearsing two roles (Alice and the White Queen) is Durban-born Isabella Blair, whose lithe grace and polished performance have been increasingly noted since she joined the company in 2019. A notable newcomer to CTCB is Luke Wragg, trained at both the Royal Ballet School and English National Ballet School;  he will bring his distinctive brand of energy to the role of the White Rabbit.

Blair admits that initially, ballet was only her second love, as from the age of five she was an avid devotee of gymnastics while also enjoying ballet. The latter eclipsed the former, however, when she encountered a strict but revered ballet teacher in Lucinda Stanley. "Lucinda inspired me to change so that I 'unmade' my gym training and modified my flexibility to suit ballet. It was not without some pain but it was worth it," she comments. Residual athleticism from gymnastics has stood her in good stead, enabling her to tackle the challenges of both contemporary and classical ballet with equanimity.

Since her successful audition for a place in CTCB when she moved to Cape Town just before COVID, Blair, now a leading artist with the company, finds each début role a welcome opportunity. "A new role is daunting at first, but it improves with familiarity," is how she sums it up.

Isabella Blair as Alice. Photo by by Lindsey Appolis.

The two fresh challenges currently before her in ALICE IN WONDERLAND are very different: "Alice is young and playful, while the White Queen is elegant and regal; I love both."

Seeing her in rehearsal, that affection is apparent, especially in a winsome pas de deux choreographed by CTCB Principal Leusson Muniz for her and fellow leading artist Zachary Healy (who partners her as the Red King).

Asked which future roles tempt her the most, she identifies Juliet in ROMEO AND JULIET, and the Sugar Plum Fairy in THE NUTCRACKER. The last-named is more than likely at the end of 2026, when the company returns to long-established tradition after this year's bold initiative with a new work.

Luke Wragg is a dancer who crackles with gravity-defying brio, and is making  his Cape Town début with this production. He describes his entry into the company as a soft landing despite a great deal of work to be done in preparation for his maiden performance as the White Rabbit. "I find everyone is very friendly in this smallish company, and the environment is really good. I've only been here since September, when I applied to join CTCB. In the last year of training at the ENB, you start looking for work in a very competitive space, and after four months of making and sending out videos for auditions, one of my teachers, David Yon, suggested I try this company - he knows its Artistic Manager, Tracy Li. So I did, and here I am!"

Leusson Muniz at the Mad Hatter and Isabella Blair as Alice. Photo by Lindsey Appolis.

Interpreting a character like the White Rabbit is something novel for Wragg, whose previous experience has not involved acting: in the ENB's THE NUTCRACKER, for instance, he was one of the trio performing the Russian Dance. "This is more demanding, having to portray the character as well as dance it. Fortunately the part suits my strengths when it comes to jumping, timing, sharp movements, virtuosic challenges. Personality-wise, the Rabbit is quirky and always on edge, radiating 

tension. But I have a good rapport with him, I'm quite fond of him! He's kind and protective..."

Wragg enjoys participating in a new work-in-progress, as it enables a dancer to express his or her own personality, independently of previous readings of roles. He also appreciates the open-minded flexibility of Gerard Charles, who is choreographing ALICE IN WONDERLAND. "I think I'm really in the right place at the right time," he chuckles. A view that the forthcoming ballet may well confirm.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND is at Artscape from 12 to 28 December 2025. Book through Webtickets or at the Artscape Box Office on 0214217695.