Ever since "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was published in 1865, the blond-haired heroine of Lewis Carroll's book has inspired John Lennon and Jewel, Disney and Salvador Dali, Carl Jung and James Joyce. Even in medicine there is an Alice in Wonderland syndrome, where objects appear to be larger or smaller than they are in real life.

Here in Pittsburgh, there will soon be two wildly different, virtually overlapping wonderlands for Alice to explore.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will be bringing British choreographer Derek Deane's version to the Benedum Center April 17-20, telling Carroll's tall tales with vibrant costumes and sets.

But before PBT takes the stage, Dance Alloy's Beth Corning is offering to turn the world upside down for her audiences at the New Hazlett Theater March 28-April 13.

Corning is using the original Alice to include several characters of another persuasion in "Feed Your Head Cafe." Think of the refrain Jefferson Airplane's psychedelic interpretation of the lyrics "Go ask Alice" in the song "White Rabbit." Think Arlo Guthrie and his anti-war song that begins and ends on the tenuous premise of "Alice's Restaurant." Think Ellen Burstyn's Oscar-winning performance as a waitress in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore."

Corning is bringing a lifetime of living to Alice without losing the childhood wonder of it all.

Her fascination with Alice began, like most of us, as a child. But Corning never lost that initial attraction. By her 30s, the choreographer, often thought about making a work based on "Alice," but she just wasn't interested in the character from her childhood.

Now in her 50s and wearing "9 million hats" as an artistic director, Corning finds that she has ruminated enough. Alice's fantasy will become a reality at the Alloy in her first full-length work for the local company.

"As one goes through life, there is still that sense of wonderment that you had as a child," Corning explains. "But now the edges of wonderment are worn softer."

She mentions Burstyn, who played an aspiring singer who was a single mother. "The realities changed," says Corning. "As a little girl, she was told, 'You can be anything you want.' Now perhaps she can't be ... ." But what is possible? As one of her characters intones, "Life is just a series of rabbit holes and tea parties."

So her Alice is suddenly in the middle of life, "literally and figuratively, as it swirls around you."

That means that Corning's work is "all over the map. It's not linear, but life is not linear. This piece is filled with ambiguities as life is filled with ambiguities." It's also a little crazy, just like the high-speed world we live in today. At the most basic level, Corning says, "Nothing in life is the same way twice -- it's impossible."

It's also upside down, which will become apparent when the audience enters the theater and finds the black and white linoleum floor is "a very big one that just doesn't commit itself to the floor," says Corning mysteriously.

She wants viewers to let their imagination fly in her new world, which has a 19-member cast that includes rotating guest artists such as Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre's Aaron Ingley, Quantum Theatre's Karla Boos and former Dayton Contemporary Dance Company principal Greer Reed.

"I always think I'm living in a fantasy," muses Corning. "I'm the kind of person who walks down the street and hears movie music behind me. You know the line -- the whole world's a stage? I think I've always seen my life like that."

Deane has been rushing around like the White Rabbit since his last foray here with PBT -- the 2006 premiere of "Anything Goes!," his tribute to Cole Porter. The fast-talking Brit arrived here last week after a 27-hour flight from Europe, and he has big projects on tap in London (a Gershwin tribute with songstress Barbara Cook at Royal Albert Hall), Beijing (an "arena" version of "Swan Lake"), Zagreb ("Lady of the Camellias") and La Scala ("Coppelia").

Nonetheless, he's only too happy to talk about his ever-so-British "Alice in Wonderland," created expressly for the English National Ballet in 1995 and set to make its North American premiere with PBT in April.

Then the artistic director of ENB, Deane says the storybook ballet "gave the company a wonderful opportunity to do some of the characters and have a bit of fun" apart from traditional big classics such as "Swan Lake." It also gave the company "a great lift financially because it sold everywhere it went." It proved to be such a success that it regularly comes back into the repertoire.

Deane organized it literally by the book into 16 scenes -- he calls them episodes -- because "I didn't want to leave out too much." That means it's virtually all there: the growing and the shrinking, down the hall, the pool of tears, the croquet match, the Mad Hatter's tea party, the caucus race, the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon, the Lobster Quadrille and the trial.

"It's the most difficult ballet I've done technically," Deane admits. "The dancers come out and romp and have great fun all evening. What goes on behind the scenes is its own nightmare for the crew."

The costumes are furry and whimsical and peculiarly "Alice," each so distinct that Deane has a hard time picking a favorite. But during rehearsals at the English National Ballet, he found himself falling under the spell of the Queen of Hearts.

"I like the venom and the spite and the awfulness," Deane reveals. "But in this production she's staggeringly beautiful, not the big, fat lump that you see in the book. She's sort of Anne Boleyn, except that she doesn't get to lose her head."

"Alice in Wonderland" could be a big favorite with American audiences as well. "I think that they'll recognize so much," Deane says. "It's literally the book without words."