MOMIX
Alice
Sunday, November 23, 2025, 1pm
Zellerbach Hall
This production of Alice has been funded in part by a contribution from Next Move Dance.
The November 30th matinee performance is made possible in part by Donald J. and Toni Ratner Miller.
‘Would you tell me, please. which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
“I don’t much care where—”
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
—Lewis Carrol
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About the Performance
Travel down the rabbit hole MOMIX-style, with Moses Pendleton’s newest creation, Alice, inspired by Alice in Wonderland. As Alice’s body grows and shrinks and grows again, MOMIX dancers extend themselves by means of props, ropes, and other dancers.
“We don’t intend to retell the whole Alice story,” says Pendleton, “but to use it as a taking-off point for invention. I’m curious to see what will emerge, and I’m getting curiouser and curiouser the more I learn about Lewis Caroll. I share his passion for photography and his proclivity for puns.”
The Alice story is full of imagery and absurd logic—before there was Surrealism, there was Alice. Alice is an invitation to invent, to let the imagination run wild. “Go Ask Alice,” sang Grace Slick in “White Rabbit”; she also said, “Feed your head.”
Pendleton continues, “You can see why I think Alice is a natural fit for MOMIX and an opportunity for us to extend our reach. We want to take this show into places we haven’t been before in terms of the fusion of dance, lighting, music, costumes, and projected imagery. Our puns are visual, not verbal. It’s not modern dance, it’s MOMIX—under the spell of Lewis Carroll, who was under the spell of Alice, who was still learning to spell.
“As with every MOMIX production, you never quite know what you are going to get. Hopefully, audiences will be taken on a journey that is magical, mysterious, fun, eccentric, and much more. As Alice falls down the rabbit hole and experiences every kind of transformation, we invite you to follow her.”
Pendleton sums up: “We see Alice as an invitation to invent, to dream, to alter the way we perceive the world, to open it to new possibilities. The stage is our rabbit hole, we welcome you to drop in!”
We move now into one of the busier times of the year, when schedules begin to fill up with special events and holiday celebrations that bring together a host of family, friends, and colleagues. I’m so happy that you’ve chosen to spend part of this time here with us at Cal Performances. We enjoy seeing you in our halls at any time of the year, but particulary during the crowded days of November and December.
It’s particularly meaningful that we begin the month with a special tribute to the late tabla master and a longtime friend of Cal Performances, Zakir Hussain, as Chicago’s brilliant Third Coast Percussion and tabla virtuoso Salar Nader continue a collaboration initiated with the music legend before his passing late last year. Besides my profound amazement at his imagination, virtuosity, and sheer physical stamina, I was always struck by Zakir’s humor and humility. His warmth was immediate, and his enthusiasm for music and performance was infectious. I know I speak for many in the community when I say that Zakir will be dearly missed.
As spending time with family is particularly meaningful at this time of year, I’m happy to draw your attention to four programs with appeal for audience members of all ages: the Bay Area premiere of Sadler’s Wells’ extraordinary kung fu-infused Sutra, a thrilling collaboration between Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, sculptor Antony Gormley, composer Szymon Brzóska, and 20 Buddhist monks from the Shaolin Temple in China’s Henan Province; a crowd-pleasing all-Strauss program with the legendary Vienna Boys Choir; a special screening of Disney’s beloved animated classic Moana, accompanied by an ensemble of top Hollywood studio musicians, Polynesian rhythm masters, and guest vocalists; and a special Thanksgiving weekend trip down the rabbit hole with the mesmerizing—and ever-popular—dancer-illusionists of MOMIX in Alice, a wild and fantastical take on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
The month also features offerings by the exceptional Twelfth Night early-music ensemble led by violinist Rachell Ellen Wong and harpsichordist David Belkovski; the virtuoso pianist and Cal Performances favorite Jeremy Denk in a highly anticipated recital of Bach’s complete partitas for solo keyboard; and a return visit by the supremely inventive visual storytellers of Manual Cinema with the Bay Area premiere of The 4th Witch, a Cal Performances-commissioned and meticulously crafted, gloriously handmade production inspired by Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Coming up in the new year, our 2025–26 season will continue with a wide range of talent including conductor Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; vocalists Joyce DiDonato and Renée Fleming; the Takács String Quartet; early-music superstars The English Concert, Jordi Savall, and The Tallis Scholars; jazz greats Cécile McLorin Salvant and Somi; and appearances by Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens and Broadway diva Kelli O’Hara.
And our acclaimed dance series continues, distinguished by genre-defining artists and major new productions including the Martha Graham Dance Company celebrating its centennial; The Joffrey Ballet in an otherworldly celebration of the traditional Scandinavian summer solstice festival; the long-awaited Cal Performances debut of A.I.M by Kyle Abraham; and, of course, return engagements with the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
As you explore the calendar, I recommend you pay particular attention to our Illuminations theme of “Exile & Sanctuary,” focusing this season on how issues of displacement can inform bold new explorations of identity and community; and how artistic expression can offer safe harbor during times of unrest or upheaval.
The opportunity to engage with diverse artistic perspectives and share the transformative power of the live performing arts is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and I look forward to encountering these profound and entertaining experiences with you in the months ahead.
Jeremy Geffen
Executive and Artistic Director, Cal Performances