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Youth dance full of amorous confusion and mystery
(de Volkskrant - February 25, 2009 - Mirjam van der Linden)

In Alice by De Stilte and Pulcinella & zo bij Introdans Ensemble, there’s a lot going on. Eyes and ears are stimulated continuously, so even if you lose the thread of these complex stories for a second, it’s not so bad. The dancers’ movements are clear and expressive, yet subtle. […] In the intimate Alice, in accordance with Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland, transformation is the central theme. In his drastically modified reprise, choreographer Jack Timmermans lets the scenery and characters change constantly. The typical comedy construction with swinging doors and a revolving door makes sudden appearances and disappearances impossible. Once it’s formed to a circle, the construction functions as a magic lantern, in which you become rather big or very small while animations of exotic flowers and mysterious keyholes whirl around. In her chase for the rabbit, the man with the fuzzy ears with whom Alice was entwined so nicely for one moment, nothing is what is seems. Consecutively he becomes a mouse, a caterpillar and a cat. It’s especially poetic and crazy what is happening here, sometimes even a little scary with all these pursuits. […]



Chases, seduces and teases
(www.8weekly.nl – February 10, 2009 – Moon Saris)

[…] With his dance company De Stilte, choreographer Jack Timmermans creates a clear interpretation of Carroll's confusing fairytale. For its target group of grammar school children, this Alice offers more than enough to experience for one hour and talk about for at least a week. [...] three ladies in flamy red dresses and one gentleman, that chases, seduces and teases them, wearing different disguises. [...] This adventurous trip through the miraculous world of fantasy is constantly exciting, without it getting too scary. It's a friendly invitation by Timmermans and company to come and meet the unknown with an open mind, instead of avoiding it... and you can bring your friends!

Mesmerizing Alice
BY MONIKA KLEIN - 23.09.2009 - Rheinische Post (German newpaper)

Leverkusen (RP) Opening the theatre festival Spielarten, Dutch company De Stilte succeeded in turning Lewis Carroll’s story into a beautiful dance performance. The young audience was captivated.
Little queenies and happy bunnies made their way to the exit after the performance. Walking down the stairs, their mothers helped them loosen the prepunched crowns and long ears from the instruction sheet. After this opening performance of Spielarten, the young spectators’ fantasy and their desire to play and experiment, had been awoken.
Silent fascination
The audience was aroused by a beautiful dance version of Alice, after Lewis Carroll. Choreographer Jack Timmermans, who intentionally encouraged the young spectators to let their imagination run free, turned the well-known children's book into an idiosyncratic mixture of dance, shadow theatre and pantomime. Carefree and witty as well as tender and poetic, more than once it brought on a silent fascination inside the Forum Studio.

Like when the company members of De Stilte from the Dutch city of Breda played with the incredible light and shadow effects, or when as if by magic, images were projected on the wall. Plants, that spring from the landscape to flourish in a fantasy forest, where colourful butterflies flutter by and a bird descends. Equally effective: a nightly constellation or the rising morning sun. Especially beautiful was the scene in which images of light bulbs appeared, only to light up by the touch of Alice‘s finger. An astonished, polyphonic ‘Oh’ broke the silence. It turned into loud laughter again during the exuberant game of hide-and-seek, in which the dancers playfully used the mobile decor. Three doors of different sizes created multiple entrances, and the revolving door in the middle turned a few tricks of its own. Exactly how much you can say without words, with the right moves, was already proven in the first scene, when Alice gets 'rowed into' wonderland. The dancer’s moves get his female colleagues started, as if they were oars.

Miracle box, full of magical ideas
by Frank Weiffen, 22.09.09 - Leverkusener Anzeige (German newspaper)
Dance company De Stilte from The Netherlands performed Lewis Carroll’s children’s book Alice in Wonderland, kicking off the youth theatre festival Spielarten at Forum.
Bunter Tanz im Wunderland: Die drei „Alice“-Darstellerinnen der Tanz-Compagnie „De Stilte“ aus Breda hüpfen über die Bühne im Forum-Studio und suchen nach dem Kaninchen. BILD: RALF KRIEGER


LEVERKUSEN – Lewis Carroll’s children’s book Alice in Wonderland truly lives up to its title: a miracle box, filled with magical ideas and fantastic tricks. Likewise, dance company De Stilte from the Dutch city of Breda took the little girl’s journey to the stage at Leverkusen’s Forum Studios: colourful, crazy, exciting. In short: a perfect kick-off for youth theatre festival Spielarten.
It might have been difficult for the youngest ones to disclose all the anecdotes and small stories, that hid behind Jack Timmermans’s numerous dances and choreographic works of art. Sometimes it all became a little too crazy, like when there were three Alices whirling, hopping and dancing on stage, running into a rabbit, a mouse, a snoring cat and a bubble-blowing caterpillar. There was never a dull moment.

Fantasy overflow
Thanks to the simple yet effective scenery (a huge wall with revolving doors), and the colorful projections and shadow theatre, the dance piece took on a pace, that was symbolic for the overflowing fantasy of its protagonist. The children in the audience laughed, wiggled, applauded and had a lot of fun – without having to understand each and every dance phrase. Alice definitely proved, that theatre – at least in the dance genre – means more than meets the eye. Kids can tell!