A PORTLAND school impressed the judges as it once again took an audience on a mad adventure to Wonderland.

Following on from its successful run at the Drill Hall, Portland, IPACA took part of its performance from the Mad Adventures in Wonderland to the UK Rock Challenge.

The school took part in the national dance competition at the regional heat at Bournemouth Pavilion.

The performance featured 65 pupils aged between 11 and 18.

It incorporated characters from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The school was commended for its lighting, video, set design and function, visual enhancement and character costume.

Angela Williams, head of dance at IPACA, said: “We had a very tiring, but absolutely fantastic day. Our dancers performed with amazing energy and passion, as did the other schools. We are now already preparing for next year’s event.”

Judges praised the performance for the incredible attention to detail in its costumes, hairdos and the bold make-up designs.

The impressive set design was also praised for taking the audience in to Wonderland with the choreography and characterisation also gaining special credit from the judges.

Governor at IPACA, Kate Shaw, said: “Congratulations to the students and staff team for a fantastic performance last night at Bournemouth. I thought the revised production kept all the key elements that you had in your original work.”

Rock Challenge UK is a series of performing arts events which promote healthy lifestyle choice.

Thousands of young people take part in local events throughout the country.

The idea behind it is for schools to decide on a theme which reflects the personalities, concerns, hopes, dreams and interests of those who create it.

From here they create the choreography for a five to eight minute dance drama piece, choosing music and designing and making sets and costumes, with IPACA heading to Wonderland once again.