The dancers of GO! Contemporary Dance Works will take The Bijou down the rabbit hole this weekend with the world premiere of ALICE.
    
The production is a full-length contemporary ballet based on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The show blends ballet and contemporary dance to interpret the classic fantasy on stage.
   
 UT student Katie Banks, freshman in communications, found a new challenge with her part as Alice’s sister.
    
“We are doing a lot of aerial work, which we have done that in the past, but every time you do it it’s a whole new aspect of the show,” Banks said. “I’ve worked in a harness and a lyra (aerial hoop) in the past, but this year I’m working with a swing, which has a much different feel. We just tried it out today and it’s very high in the air so it swings back-and-forth a lot, but I’ll get used to it.”
    
Another new element for the dancers will be the use of a projection screen. Projections will fall on the dancers as well as the screen in order to achieve effects like Alice being underwater. It is meant to serve as a moving background and reinforce the storyline while not distracting from the dancing.
    
In Banks’ favorite scene, which features Alice with the hookah-smoking caterpillar, there will be a giant mushroom on screen with smoke rings floating around.
   
 “We’ve made the smoke rings into a really pretty dance with partnering so there’s a bunch of lifts,” Banks said. “It’s very beautiful.”
    
The production was written so that anyone will be able to enjoy it; no prior knowledge of the storyline is necessary. It is also targeted at a more general audience than some may expect of a modern dance interpretation of “Alice in Wonderland.”
   
 “We’ve stuck to the book’s story, so our version is family friendly; it’s not trippy or psychedelic like some of the movie versions,” Banks said. “A lot of people are skeptical because they’ve never heard of our company before or they think that ballet is not something they’re into. Our show is made with so many exciting things, and projections, and aerial dance, and interesting movements that anyone can love it, not just people interested in dance.”
    
“If the show was just strictly very classical ballet,” Debbie Bendy, GO! volunteer and mother of two dancers, said, “I would be the first one snoozing, but it’s not like that at all. It’s very impressive what these young people do.”
    
GO! is a non-profit organization, so it depends on the community for financial support. A gala event will be held before Saturday’s show with a silent auction for fund-raising. The next performance of ALICE will be to give back to the community.
    
“For the Sunday matinee we invite The Boys and Girls Club and The Emerald Youth Foundation, so we have a great turnout of children,” Banks said. “Kids don’t often get the theater experience so they’re sometimes seeing ballet for the first time.”
    
Finding a balance between school and dance has been tough but beneficial for Banks.
   
 “I’ve found it helps me to have such a busy dance schedule because I have had to develop really good time management skills to get all my schoolwork done on time,” Banks said. “Today we’re going to be here from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. but it’s usually not this crazy. On average it’s about 20 hours a week, but when it gets close to show time it’s 40 or more hours a week. I’ve been dancing since I was four, but now that I’m older it’s five nights a week and GO! rehearsals on the weekends. It’s fun though because I’m with these girls so much that we’ve become sisters. It’s a different kind of relationship when you dance with someone because being on stage together forms a unique bond.”
    
Participation with GO! has been a bonding experience for the dancers’ families as well.
    
“I have two dancers in this show, but my son also helped build props and is working backstage during the performance,” Bendy said. “My husband helped with props and whatever else they asked him to do. This is very typical of many of the dancers’ families. We all put in a great deal of effort so that our children can participant in this company. They are very well-trained, and the artistic director Lisa McKee expects a great deal from them, but she gets it.”
    
ALICE will run Feb. 11 and 12 at The Bijou Theatre, and tickets are $21.50 for adults and $16.50 for seniors/student in advance, or $26.50/$21.50 at the door.