Inside the Los Angeles–Based Immersive Little Women Ballet
In Louisa May Alcott’s famous coming-of-age novel Little Women, the character Jo March writes fantastical adventure and scandalous romance stories to get by while trying to establish herself as a serious author. Now, 150 years later, Emma Andres is using immersive performances of her ballet adaptation of the novel to launch her choreographic career.
In 2021, Andres created a piece inspired by the 2019 Little Women film for a COVID-safe outdoor performance at Pasadena Civic Ballet in Pasadena, California. When it received positive feedback from audiences, she saw the potential for something more. Andres realized the beloved novel was part of the public domain, so she aspired to choreograph a full-length work.
“But, obviously, that costs a lot of money,” she says. Andres graduated from the University of California, Irvine, in 2020 with her degree in dance choreography, and starting her career in the middle of the pandemic left her with limited resources. Because a full-length ballet was initially out of reach, she decided to film a concept video. She reached out to the Heritage Square Museum, a living-history museum composed of eight Victorian-era buildings in Los Angeles, to be the location. With her colleagues as cast and crew, she created and filmed the concept video and uploaded it to social media.
Two weeks later, the museum reached back out to ask when Andres and her dancers would return for a live performance. “It’s a huge thing right now in L.A. to go to all these immersive experiences,” says Andres. “I was like, Oh, I could completely create this whole world through this book and develop this whole idea so much further.”
With excited dancers, a location secured, and financial backing from ArtistsPlus Productions, a Southern California–based production company co-founded by the director of Pasadena Civic Ballet, Andres conceived the first immersive Little Women Ballet performance. Six weeks later, they welcomed their first audiences and sold out three shows.
Now the project has grown to three seasonal immersives—spring, autumn, and winter—each exploring different plotlines from the novel. Dancers are set in a specific historical building, and groups of attendees are led from scene to scene by a guide portraying a minor character, like one of Meg’s friends or Amy’s former love interest. Once each group has rotated through each ballet vignette, they gather in one location for a seasonal treat offered in partnership with a local vendor. The refreshments, whether they be lemonade, root beer floats, or hot chocolate, are also historically accurate to the March sisters’ time, Andres is proud to add. Then the entire cast performs a finale. The performance closes with audience members being invited to learn Victorian party dances and joining the cast on the dance floor.
Andres’ choreographic process begins with rereading the passages of Little Women that she plans to adapt, and highlighting the emotional arcs, themes, and plot points. She then considers the unique movement elements of each character. Sophia Moritz, who plays Jo, says she was excited to embody Jo’s passion for writing, because it reminds her of her passion for dance. “Her movement shows her fiery and spirited nature, and she does a lot of jumps and turns with the guys,” says Moritz.
Chris Flores, who plays Jo’s friend Laurie, says that he appreciates how the project has allowed him to both originate a role and interpret a character with which many audiences already have familiarity. “I don’t want to sound cheesy, but it feels so American and brand-new,” he says. “It’s been really refreshing as a dancer to create the character as I see him, and from what I’ve read, and how I think he would respond. As an artist, that’s like what we love to do, find the truth, but find something personal in it.”
As in any immersive performance, the space is another factor to consider. Andres measured each room the dancers would be in and taped the dimensions on the studio floor.
“In the space there’s antique furniture, and everyone was shorter back then, so all the chandeliers are really low,” Andres says. “Up until our last performance, we didn’t have any marley, so the dancers had to navigate the room, the audience, and dancing on hardwood floors or carpet. And you can’t use rosin on historic floors!”
The company held its first open auditions this year, and the full-length ballet is scheduled for December 2024. Inspired by how other dance companies handle funding, Andres created membership tiers with associated perks, like merchandise, program listings, and invitations to dress rehearsals.
In addition to being the show’s choreographer and director, Andres says that she also handles the administrative side. “This was the first time I was creating a whole thing from scratch,” Andres says. “So to be honest, I do almost everything. The Instagram, marketing, website design, posters, all of that. Every correspondence, that’s all me.”
“This ballet is about perseverance and finding your voice in your own life and in the world,” says Moritz. For Andres and her dancers, perseverance has already led to successful immersive performances and a future full-length ballet.
