About a year ago, Katie Andrusak, company director for Ballet Wichita, started planning the summer tour of “Alice in Wonderland.” She created storyboards to visualize what the ballet might look like onstage, and she thought about everything from music to costumes.
But the most important element, of course, is the people who would bring the characters to life.
Dancers tried out in February for iconic characters like Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the Cheshire Cat. They also tried out for smaller roles like dancing tulips, roses, card soldiers and knaves.
Most roles are double-cast, which means dancers bounce back and forth between roles, depending on the performance. For primary roles like Alice, The Mad Hatter and The Red Queen, three dancers rehearse the role and share the costume.
Performers range from senior professionals to pre-professionals like Tessa Hall, who is making her lead debut with the company on this tour. Hall is an Alice understudy, as well as the Caterpillar and a tulip.
“It's been really cool getting to learn how a character acts and really developing a character, and exploring that wide range of emotions and behaviors and character quirks,” Hall said.
Andrusak says she thought about each character and how it would fit the dancer based on their styles and abilities. Although she is the primary choreographer, she says she collaborated with the dancers.
“If they start morphing it into something that fits better for them and it ultimately looks better, I give them that freedom to morph it into who they feel like the character is,” Andrusak said. “I feel like that's going to put on the best show we can.”
Quentin Aker is a Wichita attorney by day. In his limited free time, he dances as the March Hare in “Alice in Wonderland.” Aker’s journey with Ballet Wichita started about three years ago.
“The Wichita Bar Association did what's called our BAR show, which is a musical put on completely by lawyers,” Aker said. “Katie choreographed that, and I was in the show. And so, after the show, Katie texted me and said, ‘Hey, looks like you had a lot of fun in the BAR show. Would you want to audition for Nutcracker?’ Ever since then, I've been hooked.”
Aker said he hopes this summer’s tour will help people across Kansas gain an appreciation and love of the arts.
During the two-hour performance, most dancers come and go. But some, including main-character Alice, are onstage nearly the entire time.
Heidi Erin Alford Skursky has more than 20 years of professional experience. She says dancing as Alice for the first 45 minutes, with no break, is a marathon. When she is able to exit the stage, she does a few things to keep her energy up.
"I'm gonna probably have almonds. Little snacks like that will help just kind of — pop! — perkyou right up. I do like to relax just for a moment, but if you sit too long your muscles cramp," she said. "So you’ve got to keep everything warm, but not too warm.”
After a grueling performance, the dancers’ work isn’t done. They quickly change out of their costumes, put warm-up booties on their feet, and start packing props and other items into a moving truck. Then, it's off to the next performance.
For a schedule of remaining performances visit balletwichita.com/performances.
