Ariel

Ariel is a very sassy and flirtatious character and it is reflected throughout her dancing as she includes a lot of upper body and hip movement making her seem like a ‘rebel’ kind of person which the towns people start to perceive her as after the brother she is very close to is killed in a car crash. Her change in personality was a shock to many people as she is the daughter of the towns priests as she was a calm and innocent girl before the tough time she went through when he brother passed away. But as the movie goes on Ren gets to see a side to her that is more sweet and innocent then how she tries to show herself off as. In the last dance scene she is not dancing as sexual or out-going as she was in the beginning which shows she has faced the challenge of her brothers passing but has got through it because of opening up to people including Ren.

Ren

After the passing of his mother, Ren used dancing as a way to express himself rather than talking to people so it became a huge part of him. He moved to live with his aunty and uncle in a town called Bomont where dancing was banned. When Ren found out he immediately wanted to get rid of the ban as he thought dancing was a right to have and no one could take away from a person as it is the persons choice. He performs loads of powerful jumps and big movements which shows his passion for dance as a whole and this is especially seen in the warehouse scene. We see his build up of emotions and how it is let out through dance which further shows how much he relies on expressing himself in his movement. To play his part he would’ve had to push past his physical limitations to have a good stamina and body strength to perform at the demanding moves which would’ve been difficult.

Reverend Shaw Moore

In the town of Bomont, Reverend Shaw Moore is the local church’s reverend and a he is one of the councilmen so he decides what laws are passed in their town. After the death of his son on the way back from a dance, the council decide to bring in a few laws for the teenagers ‘safety’ which some of them are quite extreme.

What is musical theatre?

Musical Theatre is a form of a theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story will often included some sort of emotional context eg: humour, love, anger, sadness and many more. All of these emotions are communicated to the audience through words, music, movement and it adds to the whole performance. The most common dance styles that are used in musical theatre include: jazz, ballet, tap, ballroom, street dance and forms of folk dance.

History of musical theatre

Musical theater is believed to of started in ancient Greece around 2,500 years ago. The Greeks staged tragedies or comedies which included music and dance and were performed in amphitheatres. Later on they added song and dance routines performed with orchestra music. They began to start using special effects to make their shows more exciting which is a method still used in modern musicals. It eventually spread to America and the first musical theatre performance there took place in 1735 and it was called ‘Flora’. Then in the mid to late 1800s modern musical theatre started to come about due to a lot of big social changes which included transportation improving which made it easier for people to access the musicals and electricity improved meaning it was safer to get there meaning it became a popular way to spend your money.

In the film there are a few different themes that are carried throughout that seem to the influence the characters actions in what they do.

Religion

The town the characters live in, Bomont, is a Christian town so everyone is heavily influenced by the Church and believes people need to be respectful to each other and themselves. The dances in the movie, from a Catholic point of view, can be seen as quite intimate and demeaning so the teenagers keep their dances a secret from all the senior members of their society and Church.

Friendship

In the movie, friendship is a pretty big aspect as they all need to trust each other to keep their secrets quiet and out of sight from the seniors of the town. They go off to dances with all their friends to enjoy themselves which shows when they are dancing. They all have smiles and getting really into the dance and the atmosphere which means they are all really comfortable with each other as they are great friends.

When we first watched the scene from the bar where they were all dancing I thought it looked so fun and energetic and they were all enjoying themselves a lot. The dance was  very fast pace and it was filled with lots of difficult footwork, which made me think the dancers would get tired after a short space of time so they needed to be fit to get through the dance and make it look light and smooth to perform.

I was excited to watch the rest of the film and see the other dances as they are all energetic and quick which is very engaging to watch. I  liked the dances I had watched so far because it was different to what I normally see as the routines include loads of styles ranging from jazz to line dancing which was a very interesting range.

Overview

All the inmates in the ‘Institution for Extremely Normal Behaviour’ insist that they are from Wonderland and they all have their own mental illnesses which are noticeable in the performance.

Alice

In the story by Lewis Carroll, Alice eats cake to make her grow and shrink in size so Kate Price uses that to create this Alice with an uncertainty about eating which leads to her having an eating disorder.

White Rabbit

The white rabbit

Purpose of performance

The Mad Hatters Tea Party is based around the whole idea of exploring different perceptions of mental illness in the 21st century and what is deemed as ‘normal’ in society. Kate Price wanted to show audiences that people with mental health issues should not be feared of, but that it is completely normal for people to be different as it makes life a lot more interesting and this is shown through the characters facial features and their energetic dancing.

Kate Price uses the company’s upbeat and groovy dance style to reinvent Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and create it into an atmosphere where being different in society should be celebrated. All the characters are embracing the fact they are not perfect with their own individual mental health issues and they are still so happy and smiling.

Since the performances purpose is to celebrate people being different, Kate made sure that everything included matched to that purpose.

•The set is quite carnival/festival like which supports the aspect of celebrating people’s differences. It shows the audience that you will enjoy life much more if you don’t judge anyone.

•The costumes are bright and very striking to the eye which also matches the characters personalities. This shows that the characters do not mind sticking out and being themselves as long as they’re happy.

Who are they ?

Zoonation is a theatre group that was founded in 2002 by Kate Price. Kate Price is also the choreographer/director/writer so she the main head of the company. They have many performances which are all also in the style of street.

In the Mad Hatters Tea Party, the story is shown through the style of street and Kate reflects the style through the movements being loose and letting your body feel the rhythm of the music. This made the audience feel difficult to not move as it is an entertaining piece which is constantly moving. The performance is very intriguing  to watch and you struggle to keep your eyes away which reflects Ernest loosing himself and going mad in the hospital.

The dance is performed in the Royal Opera House which allows people to see the dance the full way around and in my opinion I think they did that so everyone will be able to experience and see all the performance and they will remember it more because it is different to other dances which are usually performed on stage. Also I think it added to the performance. The dancers facing all different ways linked to the whole aspect of people being crazy and unpredictable.

Street Dance was a style that was developed outside of the studio in any available open space such as : streets, school yards, raves, parks, dance parties and night clubs. It is often improvised and is social in nature, it creates a social environment that encourages interaction between other dancers. Street dance is often an everyday and natural enjoyment for people in certain geographical areas.

Different examples of street dance are b-boying (breakdancing) which was originated in New York and one of the other forms of street dance is clogging. It was a very early form of street dance that evolved in the streets and factories of Northern England in the 19th mid century.