Isabella Sanchez, Contributing Photographer

A light, whimsical atmosphere filled the intimate space of the Dome as the Yale Ballet Company, or YBC, performed “Alice in Wonderland” to the live music of the Yale Undergraduate Chamber Orchestra. The performance ran from Nov. 14 to 16, and the show was sold out every night.

The adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s beloved novel featured original choreography, a tap-dancing Mad Hatter and a lethal inflatable pink flamingo.

“Everything — from the story and choreography to the props — really reflects YBC’s mission of making ballet accessible and enjoyable for our community,” wrote Virginia Peng ’25, who played Alice, in an email to the News.

Valentina Simon ’25, the artistic director of Yale Undergraduate Ballet Company and choreographer of “Alice in Wonderland,” encouraged the audience to laugh and clap during the performance.

According to Simon, their adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland” was great for families with young children due to the short runtime of an hour and the story’s wide appeal to young and old audiences alike. 

For Simon, the most exciting part was the unique characterization of each character.

“The Mad Hatter has a manic smile and wears tap shoes,” said Simon. “The duchess is bloodthirsty and tries to pepper the baby. The caterpillars are otherworldly and almost hallucinogenic.”

The Mad Hatter, played by Mia Kohn ’27, who is also an illustrations editor at the News, demonstrates how dance brings a character’s distinct features to life. The sharp blows from the Mad Hatter’s tap shoes was a show of eccentricity, standing out against the whimsical music and soft steps of the rest of the dancers. 

In the portion of the story where Alice drinks a size-changing potion, two different dancers leaped onto the stage and played “big” and “small” Alice. In other parts of the show, the White Queen, played by Kyra Bonta ’25, used an inflatable pink flamingo to attempt to kill the Red Queen. The tempo of the music changed accordingly with the performance, heightening the audience’s emotions and telling the story through musical cues.

According to Simon, the Yale Ballet Company and Yale Undergraduate Chamber Orchestra collaborated in selecting music and creating original choreography. This partnership allowed them to “capture the spirit of the characters and bring them to life.” 

The Yale Ballet Company had done a similar performance with the Berkely College Orchestra in the spring 2024. Simon said that the show was a success and received a lot of positive feedback from the Yale community, which inspired her to do another performance that “incorporates a synergy between live music and live dance for the audience.”

Even then, the collaboration between dancers and a live orchestra was fairly new to both groups and presented unique challenges. 

Raoul Herskovits ’25, who conducted the orchestra for “Alice in Wonderland,” said that this challenge was fun and unconventional. 

“We have to keep the tempos, the speeds, within a specific range, because we have to make sure that the dancers don’t have to run around super fast,” Herskovits said. 

With 22 dancers in the ballet company and 20 musicians in the orchestra, the two groups were unable to practice together until a week before the performance date, said Simon. A full run-through of the show wasn’t possible until the dress rehearsal, a day before opening night.

Nevertheless, the two groups were able to come together and seamlessly blend their respective talents. Through the creative mix of music and dance, the magic of Wonderland was brought to the Dome.

A recording of the Nov. 15 performance can be found here.

On Feb. 15, the Yale Ballet Company will collaborate with Berkeley College Orchestra for another performance at Battell Chapel.