Review: MOMIX's ALICE at Ottawa's National Arts Centre

The National Arts Centre Dance’s final show of the season is MOMIX’s Alice, a piece that takes us on a journey down the proverbial rabbit hole into a beautiful, bizarre, and surreal world.

Based on Lewis Carroll’s beloved story, Alice in Wonderland, MOMIX’s Alice, directed by company founder, Moses Pendleton, takes all story’s characters – Alice, the White Rabbit, The Cheshire Cat, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Caterpillar, the Mad Hatter and, of course, the Queen of Hearts – and brings each of them to life in unusual and unexpected ways.

The Caterpillar is represented by dancers moving across the stage with blue stability balls, which are then multiplied on the projected backdrop. Alice is hypnotized by a projection of The Cheshire Cat before she blends into the backdrop, an illusion so well executed that Alice appears to vanish into thin air. The White Rabbit leads a group of rabbits in a staccato dance that is both charming and used to display the technical ability of the dancers. Speaking of which, at the curtain call, I could hardly believe that Alice is comprised of only seven dancers, which speaks volumes to just how skilled each one is.

Some of the vignettes are utterly mesmerizing, like "Cracked Mirrors" at the end of the first act, where movement and light create illusions of flying dancers reflected from within mirrors. In “The Lobster Quadrille”, dancers shapeshift using red and black hoop skirts to the music of Franz Ferdinand, with an absolutely enchanting effect. “The Tweedles” number is comedic, combining Bollywood music and dancing, while the dancers wear outlandish, oversized, monochromatic baby masks. The battle in “The Queen of Clubs Versus The Queen of Spades” is evocative, with a burlesque-like feel.

A couple of the vignettes are less engaging, such as “The Mad Queen of Hearts” and “The Wolf Spied Her”, which are both too short to evoke any lasting emotion. Although still extremely entertaining, the second half of the show lacks the captivating sparkle and energy of the first half.

More than one audience member jokingly mentioned drug use, either by stating that they were happy they weren’t on drugs watching the show, or alternatively, that they weren’t aware that they were supposed to be on drugs to attend!  Perhaps ironically, even though Carroll is not thought to have used recreational opium or other drugs, for decades readers have seen Alice in Wonderland as symbolic of hallucinations that may occur with drug use. Even Alice’s climactic sequence, “Go Ask Alice”, is named after the Jefferson Airplane song about LSD that accompanies it. Alice ascends from the rabbit hole, an abstract swirling blur of vibrant colours reminiscent of a psychedelic kaleidoscope projected onto her flowing dress.

The use of projections is central to Alice and is present in nearly every vignette. Although I generally don’t like the overuse of projections in theatre, it works with Alice because Pendleton uses it to accentuate the dancers, assist the illusionary nature of the performances, and provide a setting that enhances the surrealist dreamscape environment that MOMIX creates in Alice. Despite it’s references to Alice in Wonderland, MOMIX's Alice doesn’t really tell a story but, instead, it invites us to let our imagination run wild, find beauty in the unusual, and embrace expressionism.

The excited chatter of the audience as they left the NAC demonstrated not only that the show was well liked, but confirmed that Ottawa, despite its reputation as “the city that fun forgot”, has audiences that appreciate avant-garde performances, such those from MOMIX and other companies featured this season, like Peeping Tom.  

Ottawa Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. NEXT TO NORMAL (Elevator Theatre Company)

12.2% of votes

2. LEGALLY BLONDE (Carleton Musical Theatre Society)

10.7% of votes

3. THE PROM (Suzart Productions)

10.5% of votes

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