SD Union Tribune: Southern California Ballet to present ‘Alice in Wonderland’ after two-year delay

Southern California Ballet to present ‘Alice in Wonderland’ after two-year delay

San Diego Union Tribune

by Elizabeth Marie Himchak

Shows are March 26 and 27 at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts

For 18-year-old Lily Hofstetter, dancing the lead role in Southern California Ballet’s upcoming “Alice in Wonderland” is a dream come true.

“I didn’t expect it at all,” Hofstetter said. “I’m super excited to dance it. It is more hours in the studio learning choreography. I love it as it is so much fun.

“Alice stays on stage almost the entire ballet,” she explained. “There is not a lot of rest time.”

Lily Hofstetter, a Westview High student, will dance as Alice on March 27.

(Vladimir Zabezhinsky)

Other than playing Clara in “The Nutcracker” at 11, the Westview High senior and Torrey Highlands resident said she has never had a lead role during her decade studying ballet at the Carmel Mountain Ranch studio.

Had the pandemic not occurred, she likely would never have danced as Alice on the Poway Center for the Performing Arts stage.

The ballet was scheduled for late March 2020 when Hofstetter was cast as the Alice understudy. But the show was postponed indefinitely when everything shut down on March 13. Two years later, Southern California Ballet can finally stage its original ballet set to a variety of music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

The delay meant roles had to be recast as dancers graduated, outgrew their original roles or advanced in skills making them eligible for new parts, said Toby Batley, Southern California Ballet’s co-artistic director.

With the original Alice having graduated, Hofstetter was moved into the role. To give more students an opportunity for lead roles, Batley said the show is double cast with Hofstetter as Alice on March 27 and Emilia Wightlin as Alice on March 26.

Literally outgrowing a role is what happened to 16-year-old Misha MacGowan. Two years ago she was cast as the Dormouse. Batley said MacGowan’s height gain over the past two years made her too tall to still fit into the teapot. Her skills also advanced, so now she was cast as the highly energetic White Rabbit for March 26. The role will be portrayed by Zach Ong on March 27.

Misha MacGowan of Poway will dance as the White Rabbit on March 26.

(Vladimir Zabezhinsky)

“The White Rabbit is really fun,” said MacGowan, who has danced at SCB for 13 years. “It requires lots of jumps. Like a marathon, it needs so much stamina.”

MacGowan said depending on the scene, the way she presents those jumps vary. Some are upbeat. Others are frantic because the rabbit is late.

Getting herself into the physical condition for the role requires a lot of rehearsing in and out of the dance studio. The Poway resident’s classmates at Rancho Bernardo High have likely witnessed some of her jumps.

“I often practice at school, in the middle of the hallway,” the RBHS sophomore said. “The jumps are all different, depending on the entrances, but very similar.”

To keep them straight, MacGowan said she associates the style of jump with the action on stage, a scene or a prop.

“Sometimes there are leaps or I am hoping around,” she said. “There is never a moment I am not moving, in the air or jumping around. I can get tired easily ... get out of breath because it is fast and upbeat.”

Endurance is something Hofstetter said she also has worked on since Alice almost never leaves the stage.

“I think it’s about not expending too much energy while dancing,” Hofstetter said. “I find the small moments where I can kind of rest. It’s not 100 percent energy all the time. I take a breath while still moving so I do not use up all my energy too quickly.”

Hofstetter said what she likes best about portraying Alice is her personality.

“I love how spunky she is,” Hofstetter said. “She’s super fun to play. She definitely does what she wants to do. Her emotions are very big. She’s very curious ... leading her to explore Wonderland and all these characters (she meets).”

In the show where they are not portraying their lead roles, Hofstetter and MacGowan are dancing as flowers and cards, so that means learning additional choreography. Both are Southern California Ballet’s company dancers, which requires training at least 15 hours in the studio each week.

Batley said he and co-artistic director Martha Leebolt consulted the Disney movie versions of “Alice in Wonderland” and Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” novels to create the nearly two-hour ballet. They incorporated elements and characters from each. For music, they turned to several Tchaikovsky ballets, including “Swan Lake” and “The Nutcracker.”

He said creating a ballet is more challenging than presenting a well-known ballet. By selecting the Alice storyline, the audience is likely familiar with the plot and characters, which makes it easier to follow since ballet focuses on emotion rather than detailed storytelling.

“Alice in Wonderland” also has many strong characters, giving more dancers an opportunity to display their acting and dancing skills, he said. The ballet has about 80 dancers, including very young performers cast in just one of the two shows.

“It’s a fun story with a lot of freedom ... we have taken a lot of artistic liberty,” Batley said.

Having a two-year delay in getting the ballet to the stage presented Batley and Leebolt with the unexpected challenge of recalling their original choreography. He said they had some notes and videos of themselves, but those were created as brief memory aides for teaching the steps several hours — not two years — later.

Consequently, when rehearsals began in January they had to create new choreography for some sections since the original was completely forgotten. The dancers have also helped, remembering some choreography for roles they often are no longer dancing.

“Definitely we will, in the future, make more detailed notes and videos,” Batley said in case they are ever in such a predicament again. “It is a little bit of a nightmare to get it back.”

All involved said they are thrilled to be back on the stage after two years of taking classes from home over Zoom, filming dance shows in order to perform and wearing masks during in-person rehearsals.

“It finally feels like we are back to normalcy, which is a relief,” Batley said, explaining the studio’s focus is on providing students with opportunities to present professional, full-length ballets instead of dance competitions. “It is exciting and nice to get back after a long two years.”

“I really missed being on stage,” Hofstetter said. “There is an adrenalin rush. The first time I was back (for Coppélia performed outdoors in June 2021) I felt a lot of happiness.”

“It feels so amazing to be back ... the applause after a performance is what every dancer wants to feel again,” MacGowan said.