The Alice in All of Us
The very first
version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
was written in 1865. It is still being told to today, 146 years later. But why?
What is it about the famous young girl, dressed in blue that keeps us
fascinated for over a century? I believe it is that there is an Alice in all of
us. There is a young soul, eager to break away from the ordinary, and exist in
the extraordinary.
It seems that
these days, it is 9 to 5. It is suit
pants, cubicles, and microwave dinners. We swim in the usual. We bathe in
beige.
Not Alice.
Troubled by the
stifling expectations of the society in which she lives, she runs away and
falls into a rabbit hole, where she is transported to a world much unlike ours.
In this world
there is no beige or 9 to 5 job. In fact, it is quite the opposite. It is
peculiar and unusual, colorful and absurd. Cats can talk, hatters are mad,
rabbits are running late, and magic mushrooms make Alice grow to preposterous
proportions. It is a world where the impossible is possible. It is a world of
wonder.
Choreographer for
Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Wonderland,
Shawn Hounsell, explained it perfectly when he said that "like her, we use fantasy to hide from the mundane reality of our
everyday lives."
Alice's ability
to escape the conventional world is a desire that exists in all of us. When we
get home and take off the suit pants, we watch fantastical movies, we read
fiction books, and we get lost in TV, video games, day dreams, and
entertainment of all kinds.
There is an Alice in all of us. We like to
break away from the daily grind of our lives, and exist in fantasy, even if
just in our heads. Even for just a moment, until the movie ends, or until we
turn the last page.
Discover your Alice this weekend with Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Wonderland
at the Orpheum
Theatre! Save up to 47% on
tickets when you take advantage of this
limited discount offer from Goldstar starting today!
-Allyson
Taubenheim
Marketing Intern, Northrop Concerts and
Lectures
Image credit: Carla Schleicher
