The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a

ballet company A ballet company is a type of dance troupe which performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-round ba ...

based in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. It was originally known as The New Zealand Ballet Company.

History

New Zealand Ballet was established in 1953 as an independent charitable trust by

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world and originates from 1748, when the R ...

Principal Poul Gnatt, Beryl Nettleton, Bettina Edwards, another female dancer, and pianist

Dorothea Franchi Dorothea Anne Franchi (17 February 1920 – 22 August 2003) was a New Zealand pianist, harpist, music educator and composer. Early life and education Franchi was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1920, the daughter of Peter Rudolph and Gert ...

. In the late 1950s notable New Zealand dancers Rowena Jackson and

Philip Chatfield Philip Chatfield (2 December 1927 – 25 July 2021) was a British born ballet dancer, choreographer and artistic director. He danced for the The Royal Ballet, Royal Ballet and was artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Early life ...

, her English dancer husband, returned from overseas to join the company. A third returning dancer,

Russell Kerr Russell Whiston Kerr (1 February 1921 – 15 November 1983), was an Australian-born British Labour Party politician. Early life Kerr was born in Sydney, and was educated at the Shore School, the Sydney Church of England Grammar School, and Sy ...

, had been dancing in Europe with the Jose Greco Company since 1950,

Sadlers Wells Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

and

Ballet Rambert Rambert (known as Rambert Dance Company before 2014) is a leading British dance company. Formed at the start of the 20th century as a classical ballet company, it exerted a great deal of influence on the development of dance in the United Kingd ...

, and from 1952 to 1957 with London Festival Ballet as their principal character dancer. In 1959 Kerr joined forces with NZ Ballet director Poul Gnatt, bringing with him a number of dancers from his own company, Auckland Ballet Theatre, for the 1959–60 season. As United Ballet, the augmented company presented a ground-breaking season which prefigured the things to come. Included amongst the classical works was a major contemporary work, "Prismatic Variations, a collaborative piece between Gnatt and Kerr, with guest artists the celebrated New Zealand dancers Rowena Jackson and

Sara Neil Sara Louise Neil (born 2 September 1960) is a Canadian retired road bicycle racer, who won the bronze medal in the women's individual road race at the 1987 Pan American Games. A resident of Vancouver, British Columbia, she represented Canada at ...

. In 1962 Jon Trimmer returned to the company after studying at the Royal Ballet School in London and performing with the Sadlers Wells Company. He remains a leading artist with the company in 2007 and has performed many character roles over the last 20 years. Russell Kerr succeeded Gnatt as company director from 1962 to 1969. In the 1960s and 70s the company survived by touring extensively throughout the country. It has been directly funded by the New Zealand government (currently through the

Ministry for Culture and Heritage The Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH; ) is the department of the New Zealand Government responsible for supporting the arts, culture, built heritage, sport and recreation, and broadcasting sectors in New Zealand and advising government ...

) since 1998. In 1980 ''The Nutcracker'' was performed choregraphed by Patricia Rianne and popular despite being described as being 'staged on a shoestring'. In 1984 Her Majesty, Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...

Queen of New Zealand The monarchy of New Zealand is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of New Zealand. The current monarch, King Charles III, ascended the throne following the death of his mot ...

granted the title ''Royal'' to the company making it the fourth ballet company to receive this honour, along with The Royal Ballet,

Birmingham Royal Ballet Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) is one of the five major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside The Royal Ballet, the English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Founded as the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, the company ...

and Royal Winnipeg Ballet. A production drawing from

Māori culture Māori culture () is the customs, cultural practices, and beliefs of the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. It originated from, and is still part of, Eastern Polynesian culture. Māori culture forms a distinctive part of New Zealand c ...

toured to China in 1985. This work was called ''Moko'', and was choreographed by

Gaylene Sciascia Gaylene Ann Sciascia (born 3 September 1948) is a New Zealand choreographer and dance educator. Sciascia was born Gaylene Ann Wilson in Auckland on 3 September 1948. She graduated from the University of Utah with a Master of Fine Arts. In 197 ...

and designed by

Sandy Adsett Raymond Henry "Sandy" Adsett (born 27 August 1939) is a New Zealand visual artist and educator. He is acknowledged for championing the art of kōwhaiwhai painting, creating a context for the artform within the development of contemporary Māo ...

. The 2000 programme included ''Dracula'' that was marketed with the slogan, ‘Go to the Bloody Ballet’ and ''Ihi FrENZy'' that had a first half by kapa haka champions Te Matarae I Orehu and a second half with dance to the music of New Zealand pop band

Split Enz Split Enz were a New Zealand rock band formed in Auckland in 1972 by Tim Finn and Phil Judd and had a variety of other members during its existence. Originally started as a folk-oriented group with quirky art rock stylings, the band built a ...

with costumes design by

Tracy Grant Lord Tracy Grant Lord is a leading New Zealand scenographer and costume designer of ballet, theatre and opera. She has worked with numerous Australasian performance companies including the Royal New Zealand Ballet, New Zealand Opera, Australian Ball ...

. In 2006 the company had 32 dancers, and in 2016 had 36. It performed nationally and overseas.

Current

In 2011, Ethan Stiefel (USA) became Artistic Director, and brought his partner, American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Gillian Murphy, as a guest dancer and coach to the company during his tenure. In November 2014

Francesco Ventriglia Francesco Ventriglia (born 9 June 1978) is an Italian ballet dancer, choreographer and artistic director. In 2010 he was appointed as Europe's youngest artistic director by the Florence Opera House at the age of 32, where he held the role as ar ...

(Italy) became Artistic Director. In June 2017 he was replaced by Patricia Barker (USA). Lester McGrath is the Executive Director. In 2021 the Royal New Zealand Ballet received extra government funding with a payout of $1.157m after a budget freeze since 2016 and given in part because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This means the dancers' salaries have increased to at least the

living wage A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking lab ...

to the end of 2022. There is ongoing controversy about the number of New Zealand dancers in the dance company of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, many being from overseas. Former members Dawn Sanders, Gray Veredon, Patricia Rianne, Nick Carroll and Anne Rowse are critical of processes and some suggesting a quota of New Zealand dancers.

Programme

Choreographers in residence listed in 2021 are Loughlan Prior, Shaun James Kelly, Corey Baker and Sarah Foster-Sproull. In 2021 the programme includes Stravinsky’s ''The Firebird'' choreographed by Loughlan Prior with

designing.

Some of the dancers

* June Kerr (1959 - 60) *Abigail Boyle (since 2005) * Adriana Harper (2005–15), subsequently assistant to magician Andre Vegas * Alayna Ng (2007–17) * Ben Conquest (2000 - 2005) * Bronte Kelly * Clytie Campbell (2005–16), in 2017 became Ballet Mistress under Francesco Ventriglia * Harry Skinner (2008–17) * Jacob Chown (2006–17) * Sir Jon Trimmer * Joseph Skelton (since 2011) * Katherine Skelton (née Grange) (since 2010) * Kilian O'Callaghan (1988-1989 Soloist, 1990-1994 Principal Dancer) * Kohei Iwamoto (2010–17), then Queensland Ballet as a soloist * Laura Saxon Jones (2013–17) * Loughlan Prior (since 2010) * Lucy Green (2010–16), then Queensland Ballet as a soloist and subsequently Principal Dancer * Maclean Hopper * Madeleine Graham (since 2013) * Mayu Tanigaito (since 2012) *

Nadia Yanowsky Nadia Yanowsky is a Spanish ballet dancer. Early life and family Yanowsky was born in Madrid and raised in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. She is the daughter of Russian ballet dancer Anatol Yanowsky and Spanish ballet dancer ...

(since 2018) * Paul Mathews (since 2006) * Rory Fairweather-Neylan (2007–2015) * Shaun James Kelly (Since 2014) * Tonia Looker (2008–17), subsequently Queensland Ballet * Yang Liu (since 2010) *Qi Huan (2005-2014) *Ginny Gan (2011-2014)

References

External links