‘MOMIX: Alice’ dances into the Vilar at Beaver Creek

Travel down the rabbit hole with MOMIX, a company of dancer-illusionists that has been exploring the human body “to investigate non-human worlds,” as artistic director Moses Pendleton describes his innovative choreography. On Jan. 28, MOMIX presents “Alice,” a full-length work based on the theme of “Alice and Wonderland.”

Last winter at VPAC, MOMIX performed a compilation of highlights from productions throughout its 40-year history, and this winter, dancers extend and shrink themselves through props, ropes and fellow artists.

While Pendleton doesn’t retell Alice’s entire story, he does use it as a jumping-off point for his imagination.

“The world of Alice has always fascinated me with its surreal and whimsical nature,” he said, adding that it started around 1995 when MOMIX created “The Mad Hatters Tea Party” for students of the Nutmeg Ballet to include his then 6-year-old daughter, Quinn Elisabeth. “Years later, we did a mise-en-scène for an Alice-themed gala for the Pirelli Calendar Event, which then led to the development of our latest show. Alice is an invitation to invent and ask questions. ‘Go Ask Alice,’ sang Grace Slick in ‘White Rabbit.’ Michael Pollan’s ‘How to Change Your Mind,’ about mind-altering substances, was a bestseller. You can see why I think Alice is a natural fit for MOMIX and an opportunity for us to extend our reach. I don’t recall taking any of those drugs while I was making Alice, though. I had to keep a clear head to make a psychedelic show.”

The show explores places MOMIX hasn’t ventured into before in terms of the fusion of dance, lighting, music, costumes and projected imagery.

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“We try to keep it simple and suggestive at the same time,” he said. “As in dreams, it’s the combinations that surprise. New technologies have made it possible for complete immersion in every scene.”

As Alice explores Wonderland, her body goes through multiple — and major — changes. For example, during her encounter with the Caterpillar on the mushroom, a line of dancers and caterpillar segments in the form of large blue balls articulates and disarticulates in Alice’s presence.

“The body is always just one step away from metamorphosis, and if you’d like to know how the show ends, just ‘Go Ask Alice,'” he said.

But one thing’s for sure: “Alice” brims with imagery and surrealism from top dancers in the nation.

“The dancers put their highly developed physical skills in the service of an imaginative vision. I like to work by multiplication, so I have not one, but four, Alices and a couple of Carroll’s. But they don’t play roles as in a play, they’re more like figures in a dream that can take various shapes and forms and sometimes combine in new ways,” he said.

As with all MOMIX shows, expect the unexpected.

“We see Alice’s adventures as an inspiration; this show doesn’t try to re-create them. Carroll’s Alice books are an invitation to alter the way we perceive the world, and we hope for audiences to take from the show what they find in it,” he said. “The rabbit hole is a portal for fantasy: my own, the dancers’, the audience’s. We’re in this together. The world of Alice is very strange, but so is our own — more now than ever.”