The new ballet continues and develops the principles and achievements of 20th-century ballets, but with modern technologies in mind, which are now an integral part of ballet and are no less important than music or choreography. At the same time, each new ballet provides its own scenographic solution, a new spectacle, to maintain the position of the mass genre, given the saturation of the modern viewer with visual impressions. Let us consider the structural and compositional features of modern story ballet using the example of the production of "Alice in Wonderland".
The ballet "Alice in Wonderland" was staged in 2011. It is a ballet in three acts by choreographer Christopher Wheeldon to a libretto by Nicholas Wright. It was created with the participation of the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, and the National Ballet of Canada. The music by contemporary composer Joby Talbot became the first full score (1 hour 40 minutes) written specifically for the Royal Ballet in the last 20 years. This production is unique primarily because this ballet is currently performed in only three theatres: Covent Garden in London, in Canada by the National Ballet Company, and since 2017 in the repertoire of the Australian Ballet. This is explained by the high complexity of the ballet production, starting from massive and complex scenery, high-tech special effects, and ending with a huge orchestra and very high requirements for the level of the dancers themselves, who must master classical and modern dance techniques, as well as be outstanding dramatic actors.The basis for the plot was two world-famous books by the English writer Lewis Carroll: "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass". In the ballet, the plots of these two books are connected. The ballet libretto is slightly different from the original fairy tale, which, however, does not at all deprive the performance of Carroll's absurd spirit. In it, the journey through Wonderland is preceded by a short prologue, in which prototypes of future characters of Alice's dream appear: her domineering and impatient mother will become the Queen of Hearts, Lewis Carroll, as one of the guests of the house - the White Rabbit, Jack - a simple boy whom Alice sympathizes with and whom her mother throws out of the house, will turn into the Knave of Hearts, and Alice will eventually save him from the Queen's wrath. And the amazing inhabitants of Wonderland will be created by Alice's imagination from the images of the guests.
Below is the numbered structure of the ballet, as well as a list of characters and their figurative correspondence.
Structure:Act 11. Prologue2. Down the Rabbit Hole3. The Hallway \ Growing and Shrinking4. The Pool of Tears5. The Caucus race6. The Paper Boat7. Fish and Frog Fotmen8. Pig and Pepper9. The Knave
Act 21. The Cheshire Cat2. The Mad-Hatter's Tea Party3. Alice Alone4. The Caterpillar5. Back in the Hallway6. The Flower Garden
Act 31. The Gardeners2. Enter The King and Queen3. The Queen's Adagio4. The Croquet Match5. Playing Card Dance6. Setting Up The Courtroom7. The Queen's Tango8. The Trial9. The Chase10. Epilogue
Characters in OxfordAlice: the original protagonist in Lewis Carroll's book, in which she is a child; in the ballet, she is a teenager experiencing her first love.Henry Liddell and his wife: Alice's parentsLewis Carroll: the author of the bookLauren and Edith: Alice's sistersJack: a young gardener with whom Alice is in love, was banished by her mother, who accused him of stealing a cake
Characters in WonderlandThe Queen of Hearts: a powerful ruler who wears all red and threatens everyone around her. She is played by a dancer who plays Alice's mother.The King of Hearts: played by a dancer who plays Alice's fatherThe White Rabbit: the Queen's assistant who is afraid of her. His role is played by a dancer who plays Lewis Carroll.The Jack of Hearts: one card from the deck, he is accused of stealing cakes and is put on the hook. His role is played by a dancer who plays Jack.The Duchess: an extravagant lady who is invited to play croquet with the QueenThe Frog: the Duchess's butlerThe Fish: the postman of WonderlandThe Cheshire Cat: a mysterious, smiling cat whom Alice asks for helpThe Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Sleepy Mouse: three characters whom Alice meets for teaThe Caterpillar: an exotic insect that gives Alice a piece of a magic mushroom.
The set design was created by designer Bob Crowley, who staged the Olympic show in London, and combines sets, lighting, computer graphics, and unusual design finds. All the scenes of the action are independent performances with bright characters – the clownery of the Mad Tea Party with the Hatter, the grotesque world of the Duchess's kitchen, the mysterious Cheshire Cat, shown in the form of a huge doll made of many parts, which are sometimes connected, then float in the air separately from each other, and the exotic Raja, who has turned into a giant Blue Caterpillar. Alice is accompanied in this world by the White Rabbit. The leader of the whole action, Alice's patron and guide, the organiser of the Queen's holiday, is elegant, mysterious, ironic, and very believable. The choreographer gives him funny features of "rabbit" plasticity. The touching sympathy of Alice and Jack - the Knave, which caused anger and persecution from her mother, the Red Queen, becomes the plot basis of the second act, which is localised in the Queen's castle. Her image is conceived in the manner of the grotesque, and its culmination point is in the adagio of the Queen with small cards - a parody of Aurora's Pink Adagio from "Sleeping Beauty". The choreographic part is a parody of the classics, from the tutu dress to the classic choreographic positions, interspersed with comic episodes. The most complex and largest role is Alice, a teenage girl, through the prism of whose surprised gaze the whole story is told. On the way to the Queen's castle, Alice passes through all the paintings in which she is actively involved. She instantly tries on the language and style of each new acquaintance, as if trying on, playing with her, but remaining herself.The story in the ballet ends differently than in the book – the finale is transferred to the present day, in which Alice wakes up with a book on a city bench, and at her feet sits Jack, a simple guy in a T-shirt and jeans. The finale completely extinguishes the extravaganza of the grotesque that reigned on the stage for two hours and returns to earth. Alice dreamed everything, and she shared her dream with Jack in surprise. The last point in the final departure from the fantastic world is the appearance of Carol, the White Rabbit, in the image of a tourist passing by the heroes, whom Alice and Jack ask to take a picture of them. Here, the viewer expects that the heroes are about to recognise each other, and the dream will turn out to be reality. But no, recognition did not happen; we are in a completely different reality, and these worlds are separated by clear boundaries. Consciousness can exist and act at the same moment only in one reality, which will be perceived as true and correct for a given specific moment.Few books are as unique and have left such a mark on culture as Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland". Under the external combination of fantasy, absurdity, amazing characters, and a bright dream world, the book contains a deeper subtext that covers the fields of philosophy, language, psychology, and even mathematics. This has always made this literary work a very attractive material for creative individuals, and choreographers are no exception. "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is a fairy tale written by the English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, already known as a writer under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. The book was published in 1865 and is considered one of the best examples of literature in the genre of absurdity. It uses numerous mathematical, linguistic, and philosophical jokes and allusions. The course of the story and its structure influenced art, especially the fantasy genre. Also, based on the plot, we can find features of dystopia. The story develops towards the growth of negative trends, which ultimately leads to a crisis and collapse, that is, to the collapse of the world of illusions.The author of the libretto for the ballet Alice in Wonderland is the British playwright Nicholas Verney Wright. Perhaps because the author of the libretto worked primarily with the dramatic theatre (although he created two librettos for operas), the ballet turned out to be very dynamic and rich in terms of dramaturgy. One of the main differences between the ballet's plot and the literary source is the introduction of a new narrative line, which gives a completely different colour and perspective to the entire work. This is the lyrical line of Alice and Jack, Alice's first teenage love, and the conflict with her domineering mother that grows out of this love. The second difference is the epilogue of the ballet, in which Alice and Jack are transported to our modern world, and Carroll-Rabbit appears here in the image of a tourist who photographs them. This addition to the plot completely distracts us from the fantastic world, which turns out to be only an illusion - Alice's dream. Thus, two lines of conflict arise: between Alice and her mother, embodied in the image of the Queen of Hearts, and between the real world and the fantastic world. Throughout the story, the main character must overcome obstacles, demonstrate courage and ingenuity, and solve various puzzles to find a way out of a problematic situation. And as a result, the heroine receives her reward, and thus the author's tale acquires elements of a parable, that is, an instructive story, where the moral lesson is given in allegorical form. Of particular interest is the ballet score. Joby Talbot is a modern and quite young composer (born in 1971). His specialisation is music for films and dance productions. From the very beginning, the number and variety of instruments used in the orchestra attract attention. Along with the traditional orchestra, a colossal percussion group has been added, which includes various types of drums, marimba, glockenspiel, xylophone, bells and chimes, various types of cymbals (they are also used in the English folklore tradition), wooden blocks, and various noise devices. Also added is a MIDI keyboard with electronic sounds and a female choir, performed either live in 4 voices or on an electronic device. The musical language of the ballet is very modern; the key is not indicated anywhere, but separate harmonic complexes can be distinguished. Major-minor fluctuations are characteristic, the juxtaposition of distant keys, which results in special sonoristic effects. The size changes throughout the score; sometimes one measure can stand out from the general environment with its own size. Thus, orchestral performance requires a very high level of qualification as a conductor, and all musicians of the orchestra.The score is a vivid example of polystylistics. From polystylistic techniques, pseudo-quotations and allusions are used. Also, in some episodes, there is a stylisation of music in certain episodes, for example, Waltz of the Flowers No. 6 in the second act is written in the character of Strauss's Viennese waltzes, and also allows us to draw a parallel to Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. Sometimes it is impossible to determine exactly what the composer is using - allusion or stylisation. In addition, stylisation often intersects with parody, as we will see in the Queen's Adagio from the third act. In essence, polystylism and the mixing of signs of different stylistic directions become a new style, which is perceived as a single whole despite all its internal diversity. What is characteristic is that even in those episodes when the composer gives a reference to a certain style, we still clearly hear that the music sounds modern, which is solved due to unconventional harmony, rhythm, linear structure of musical phrases, and lack of squareness.The musical dramaturgy of the ballet is based on two principles – contrast and continuity. Contrast is manifested primarily in the opposition of two main themes – the lyrical leitmotif of Alice and Jack and the Queen’s theme, which differ in character, timbre, rhythm, and harmony. Continuity is traced during the analysis of some themes, for example, the Queen’s Adagio theme grows out of the theme of the Waltz of the Flowers, and the first theme of the introduction already traces individual elements of future leitmotifs.
There is an internal intonation-thematic connection between the main leitmotifs.

As can be seen from the table, all the main leitmotifs that will be developed further are already present in the Prologue. No. 8 from the third act has a similar structure - the court scene, but it, unlike the Prologue, ends with a complete mixing of all themes, layering them one on top of the other and, as a result, the affirmation of the main lyrical leitmotif in the Epilogue.This leitmotif can be considered the main one in the ballet, practically the Main Party, especially considering that it is opposed by the Queen's theme, which is no longer present in the Epilogue.If we compare this work with other, classical operas or ballets, where there are two worlds - everyday and fantastic, we will see that in this ballet there is no clear difference between the musical characteristics of these two worlds. This can be explained by the fact that in the fantastic world, there are the same characters as in the everyday world; the difference is only that they act and interact with each other according to different laws. It is interesting, in this regard, that the only musical theme that exists only in a fantastic reality is the leitmotif of a ticking clock, associated with the White Rabbit, as a guide who opens a portal to another reality in which the laws of time change. Talbot's music for the ballet "Alice in Wonderland" is another most expressive language in which a fantastic fairy tale is told. Sometimes it is enchanting, bravura, reminiscent of the musical accompaniment of a circus buffoonery, sometimes it is trembling and romantic - in the scenes of Alice and Jack, sometimes it is frankly parodic of high classics - in the Queen's adagio, but always - very illustrative, with pronounced themes of characters, moods, and relationships, it creates a festive mood.
Musical Structure and DramaturgyThe entire work is not divided into separate numbers, but into scenes that smoothly transition from one to another. Each main character has his own distinct musical characteristics, and in this regard, the leitmotif system of the entire ballet can be determined. The score is also replete with many authorial remarks, not only about the nature of the performance, but also about the stage action, since the music continuously follows the plot.
Act 1PrologueHere, all the main characters are exposed, who will later appear in the fantasy world in other guises. But in order to recognise and understand the relationship between them, the composer gives each character his own intonation sphere and his own leitmotif.The music of the introduction conveys the atmosphere of festive bustle and preparation for a picnic in the garden. Against the background of the oscillation of major and minor (the constant change of b.3 and m.3 C-sharp-A and C-A), the oboe plays the introductory theme, individual motifs from which will later appear in other themes.

The first of the main characters' leitmotifs is the Cheshire Cat's theme - a major chord with a sixth. The character himself does not appear, but this is already a reference to the further transition into a fantasy world.

With the appearance of Alice's mother, the first individual elements of her future theme appear, so far in an even rhythm, then her main leitmotif will be characterised by a sharp dotted rhythm. The timbre characteristic of this character is set by the composer immediately - it is a violin in a high register.

The initial intonations of the main theme, connected to the lyrical line of Alice and Jack and, in fact, being Alice's own theme, appear as early as bar 86 in the oboe and piccolo flute.

These intonations gradually develop, and from bar 154 the theme runs completely canonically through all layers of the orchestral fabric, but the initial and main conduction is heard precisely in the oboe, which becomes the late timbre of Alice and her romantic line with Jack.

This theme sounds during their duet in the Prologue and begins with the active intonation of the ascending fifth A flat - E flat against the background of the A flat major triad in the strings. The main leitmotif of Alice and Jack runs through the entire ballet, appearing not only in the scenes of the duet but also in separate parts, in different episodes, thus becoming the main leitmotif of the entire ballet.
The theme of the Queen - Alice's mother runs in its main form during a sharp conflict with Alice and Jack herself. The sharp dotted rhythm and the sharp timbre of the violin, similar to screams, vividly reflect the true character of this character, domineering and even hysterical.

In the scene of the arrival of the guests, all the future fantastic characters pass in turn, but in the Prologue, each of them has their own image in this world of the outwardly polite Victorian era.
The Magician appears first - he is the future Mad Hatter, who entertains those present by pulling a white rabbit out of his top hat (and again a figurative reference to future events). The theme of the Mad Hatter, as a character dancing in a special style (we will consider this aspect in the context of choreography later), is rhythmically inextricably linked with his movements. Saturated with chromaticisms and sharp changes of registers, it shows us a character who is truly strange and eccentric.

The next guest is Raja, also known as the Caterpillar in the future, who gives Alice a piece of the magic mushroom. This character is associated with an oriental theme; the East theme was very popular in the Victorian era. His leitmotif is increased seconds and an intricate, multi-layered rhythmic pattern in a very large percussion group.

The Duchess also appears in the Prologue - a grotesque image performed by a male travesty actor. The musical theme is based on a heavy, sharp rhythm and percussion chords in the brass band.
The scene of Carroll's transformation into the White Rabbit is illustrated in the music by oscillating major thirds, located a fourth apart and then moving down whole tones. Against this background, elements from the Cheshire Cat theme appear in fragments.
Finally, when the transformation has occurred, and before us is the nervous White Rabbit, forever in a hurry somewhere, his theme also appears - an imitation of a ticking clock.

Alice's fall down the Rabbit Hole is shown in music by the descending chromatic movements of the tutti and the constant oscillation of chords in two keys - C minor and F sharp major.

At the end, everything comes to a single note – C, in all instruments – the fall is complete. The organ section has a long E-flat minor chord. Many doors appear on the stage, but the outlines of the objects surrounding Alice are still vague, and in the music again – the oscillations of B.3 at a distance of a fourth. The main theme emerges once again – in the scene of Alice’s memories of her home.

Number 5 in the first act – Running in a Circle (Carroll, some literary scholars believe, refers to political races) is written in the nature of circus music, the rhythmic pattern imitates a gallop, which evokes associations with horses jumping in a circus arena, that is, in a circle.

Act 2
The second act begins with the theme of the Cheshire Cat; his image first appears only in the music, but we already recognise him, because we have encountered this leitmotif before. Very transparent texture, arpeggios on the harp, an organ point on E in the strings, chromaticisms on the flute, and against this background the leitmotif itself sounds - an ascending triad, now major, now augmented, and returning a second down, the tonality is not defined, as are the outlines of the Cat himself, whose body is divided into parts and now comes together, now falls apart (this character is shown in the form of a huge puppet, each part of which is led by a separate actor, in a black box).

The next number is The Mad Tea Party. The Mad Hatter's leitmotif is already known to us from the Prologue. But here, first, its part appears - a minor second (almost the entire Mad Hatter's theme consists of them), and the ticking clock theme associated with the White Rabbit is also added. Ascending chromatic movements appear - the second component of the Mad Hatter's theme, the main leitmotif grows gradually and in its full form passes against the background of an imitation of a ticking clock, in string and chromatic passages in the celesta. The musical fabric is quite transparent, since the main attention is focused on the complex rhythm of tap dance in the dance part, and the main function of the music here is to maintain this rhythm.

In the scene when Alice is left alone, the theme of the waltz from the Garden of Flowers, which she briefly glimpsed through the keyhole of one of the doors after falling down the rabbit hole, appears. This garden is the goal that the main character strives for.

And in achieving this goal, Alice is helped by the next character she meets on her way - the exotic Caterpillar. The oriental theme with extended seconds and a fastidious rhythm in percussion already appeared in the Prologue, here, a second motif is added to this melody - chromatic fourths, alternating in ascending and descending motion.

Rhythmic pattern in a percussion group:

Eating a piece of the magic mushroom, Alice finally finds herself in the Garden of Flowers.
Waltz of the Flowers – that’s what this scene is called in the score, which gives two references at once – to Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” and Strauss’s bright Viennese waltzes. The waltz theme begins with a wide active movement up an octave, then a jump down a tenth, and a gradual filling of this space with an ascending melody with chromaticisms.

The theme of the Queen of Hearts Adagio grows out of the theme of the Waltz of the Flowers. It is a deliberate parody of the Pink Adagio from Tchaikovsky's “Sleeping Beauty”, with almost identical harp arpeggios and a very similar melody. But the choreographic part is full of deliberate "gags" (sarcastic jokes), and we are presented with a grotesque, absurd image of the Queen, whose attempts to appear serious end in failure.

The Queen's tango from the third act, before the court scene, also refers to another equally famous ballet - the Carmen Suite, with a characteristic dotted rhythm that is easily recognisable, and the Queen's leitmotif is superimposed on the strings.

The absurdity of the plot reaches its apogee in the court scene, and, after the Queen's fall (in the literal sense of the word, the main character falls from her throne into the abyss in the depths of the scene), a reverse transition follows, but as a result we find ourselves not in the expected world of the Prologue, but in our modern reality.
The epilogue, in which Alice sleeps on a bench in the garden, and Jack sits at her feet, begins with an echo of the rhythm of the Caterpillar and the transparent theme of the Cheshire Cat in the celesta. Illusions dissipate, and everything turns out to be just a dream. And the main leitmotif sounds affirmatively during the lyrical duet of Alice and Jack.
Thus, one can see in the compositional and dramaturgical content of the ballet the principles of precisely instrumental, symphonic development. Based on the analysis of the interaction of the main themes, it can be noted that a characteristic distinguishing feature of the attraction to the form of sonata allegro, where MT is the main lyrical leitmotif of the ballet, and ST is the Queen's theme. Sonata form has not previously been used in writing music for ballets, and this approach to musical form formation in ballet is truly innovative.
The choreographic language of Christopher Wheeldon - a modern and extremely popular and recognised English master - is based on academic vocabulary, but incredibly playful, imaginative, and illustrative. There is no artificiality in the plasticity of the characters; all movements are very natural, and, unlike pure classics, Wheeldon's choreography has ceased to be a set of standard ballet steps, but is focused on a very accurate reflection of the character of each hero, respectively. Each character has its own choreographic language.
Jack the Knave stands out from all the characters in the tale with the seriousness of his image; he is the only one who does not rush into the general bacchanalia of the grotesque, but remains himself throughout the performance - a romantic young man with classical plasticity. The duets of Alice and Jack are conceived and performed as a reference to academic adagios without any parody, except with a slight touch of modernisation and very youthful playfulness, which slightly reduces the pathos of the strict canon.
Alice's part is also based on the classics, but when she encounters and communicates with many other characters, she copies their movements in the dance, as if adapting to them. So children often copy someone, and this move of the choreographer is due to the fact that Alice has a childish receptivity and the ability to be sincerely surprised by the world around her.
The Red Queen is shown in the manner of a grotesque. Her image is characterised by her two main numbers: Adagio in the second act and Tango in the third, both of which are clear parodies of famous ballet numbers.
The Adagio is almost a direct copy of the choreography from Aurora's Pink Adagio, only when performing all the steps, the Queen is faced with various incidents; she sometimes falls, then takes very uncomfortable poses, thus the whole effect of severity and grandeur is nullified.
The tango from the third act is a reference to the Carmen Suite, which is heard immediately when the violins begin to play a characteristic dotted rhythm.
Two characters in the ballet are radically different from the others in their choreography.
The first is the Hatter, whose image stands out from the general context, both musical and choreographic. His choreographic part combines two radically opposite dance techniques - classical choreography and tap dance, which distinguishes him from the other characters precisely as a "madman", because he moves in a very special, unusual manner. As the dancer who performs this role, Stephen McRae (who studied these two dance styles simultaneously since childhood), says in his interview, here you have to combine the incompatible: classical choreography is focused on the body being stretched upwards, while tap dance involves strong support, which contradicts the technique of a ballet jump. Thus, the dancer has to constantly switch between these two dance techniques.
The second is the Caterpillar, whose dance part is based not on classical, but on modern choreography, which includes very plastic movements that require enormous flexibility of the dancer, and, of course, technicality, like any modern dance.
Modern ballet is looking for new artistic possibilities - means of interpretation that allow for enhancing the effect on the audience. Here we can trace the line that goes back to Diaghilev's Russian Seasons, in whose ballet productions the scenery, costumes, and music played no less important a role than the choreography. The synthesis of arts in modern ballet implies their free creative unity, in which each art, adapting to others, but maintaining relative independence, enriches others, makes its contribution to the artistic whole, and as a result of interaction, a synergistic effect arises.
The productions of such ballets are very technically complex and require great professionalism from dancers, musicians, artists, and technical staff. This ballet is staged only by the Royal Ballet organisation, which has a monopoly on this performance.
This ballet is a synthesis of drama and musical symphonism, that is, a combination of the features of two genres: choreodrama and dance symphony (this trend first appears in the ballets of Grigorovich).
As can be seen from the analysis of the score, in ballet music there is a tendency towards symphonization, development, and interaction of themes according to the symphonic principle; this is a continuation of the line that goes back to Tchaikovsky's ballets. This tendency is because it is the symphonic nature of the development of musical material that can most fully reflect all the dramatic collisions of the plot. Such techniques of symphonic development are used as the development of themes and motifs, waves of increases and decreases, the integrity of the musical form with a single climax, and the dynamics and logic of the general movement. A symphonic dramaturgy of ballet arises, a developed leitmotif system, where themes interact with each other, reflecting the interaction of characters on stage. The plot ballet returns the basic principles of the construction of classical ballet, but differently, rethinking them and enriching them with the latest achievements of music, choreography, theatre, and science. The ballet is plot-based, but in it, the external movement of the plot is not "danced", but stage, decisive, nodal, turning points in the development of the action are selected, based on which large dance-choreographic scenes are built, which are given in direct comparison. In this way, a deep and holistic dramaturgy, a clear composition, and plot development (with a beginning, movement of the action, culmination, and denouement) are built.
The dramaturgy of this ballet is related to dramatic theatre, but, at the same time, it differs from it, because to the same extent it is related to music, resembling the development of a symphonic work. The synthesis of script and musical dramaturgy forms the true dramaturgy of dance-plastic, choreographic action.