MOMIX: Alice

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MOMIX’s Alice returns to The Joyce Theater for the first time since its 2022 premiere and continues to dazzle in its inimitable way with illusion and dance. Choreographer Moses Pendleton’s creation does not strictly follow the plot of Lewis Carroll’s two books, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, but appears to be a fantasia inspired by them and using all the elements of dance, gymnastics and imagery to bring it to teeming life. Using nine dancers, five women who seem to alternate as Alice, and four muscular men, the evening consists of 22 episodes taken from the two books but not always obvious as to their source. The score consists of 23 songs, some of which seem to have been written specifically with the Lewis Carroll book in mind.

The evening begins with Alice dressed in white and reading a white book labeled Alice (which she seems to read in various directions) seated on one end of a ladder being seesawed up and down by a man (Lewis Carroll?) at the other end – or are they bicycling? This is backed by the most realistic of Woodrow F. Dick III’s video designs, a bucolic view of a river and trees at high summer. This tableau fades and four Alices are seen rising and falling through long white tubes until they completely disappear. Alice appears before three doors which instead of her growing and shrinking (as is usually the case) the doors rise and shrink in size. The Tweedles appear as four muscular babies clothed only in flesh-colored underwear. They continually combine as if to represent two, rather than four. A fleet of six white rabbits run across the stage with large floppy ears. A giant spider appears (design by Michael Curry), a woman with six enormous legs who seems to do a pas de deux alone.

A large blue caterpillar appears as six dancers with blue exercise balls. They continually regroup and break apart using their blue balls for various gymnastic exercises. Backed by a black and red projection of a lobster or two, four women appear in black hoop skirts with their heads obscured by red roses. As they undulate, their costumes seem to consume them, morphing into lobster-like shapes. Alice meets four Queens dressed in white decorated with hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs. They seem vaguely threatening to Alice. Four large mirrors appear: dancers interact with them so that we are never certain how many dancers there are.

The second half inspired by Through the Looking Glass takes places mainly in a forest. Strange creatures appear mostly two persons high with the upper dancer flexible in various ways. Other indeliable images are a series of stained glass window archways which seems to morph in various directions. Eventually it appears they are not stationary but dancers in stretchable costumes. Alice runs by pushing a giant playing card of the Queen of Clubs. The final image is of Alice in a long dress of various colors and designs. As she rises into the air, the dress expands, held on to by two other dancers.

The images are dazzling and unforgettable though they do not always line up with what one remembers from Lewis Carroll. Phoebe Katzin’s costumes are as surprising as the images, often morphing into untold shapes. The lighting design by Michael Korsch changes with the needs of the various sequences. Among the many songs, Chris Vrenna and Mark Blasquez’s “Falling Down the Rabbit Hole,” Danny Elfman’s “The Cheshire Cat,” “The Lobster Quadrille” (Franz Ferdinand, Alexander Huntley, Nick McCarthy, Paul Thompson, and Robert Hardy) and Grace Slick’s “White Rabbit” seem to have been expressly written to be used in this way.

MOMIX’s Alice is unique in its imaginative, often psychedelic imagery and choreography by Moses Pendleton who both conceptualized and directed the production. It is unlike any other version of the Lewis Carroll classics that you have seen before. It is a shame the program does not credit the dancers for their individual performances but they seem to switch off roles at various times. For the record, the present company consists of Jared Bogart, Heather Conn, Nathaniel Davis, Madeline Dwyer, Derek Elliott Jr., Aurelie Garcia, Seah Hagan, Oksana Horban and Adam Ross whose flexibility and artistry is a wonder to watch.  MOMIX: Alice is suitable for all ages and all languages as the show is completely wordless but backed by music.

MOMIX: ALICE (through January 4, 2026)

The Joyce Theater

Tino & Rajika Puri Auditorium, 175 Eight Avenue at 19^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, call 212-242-0800 or visit http://www.joyce.org

Running time: 90 minutes without an intermission