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 me ...

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 count ...

. 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 Ro ...

Principal

Poul Gnatt Poul Rudolph Gnatt (24 March 1923 – 15 October 1995) was a Danish dancer and balletmaster active in New Zealand. Childhood Gnatt was born in Baden, Austria. His father was Kai Gnatt, flower merchant, and his mother Kaja Olsen, both fro ...

, 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 Rowena Othlie Jackson (also known as Chatfield; born 24 March 1926) is a New Zealand former prima ballerina. Early life Jackson was born in Invercargill on 24 March 1926 to William Ernest Jackson and Lilian Jane, née Solomon. As a young chil ...

and Philip Chatfield, 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, and from 1952 to 1957 with

London Festival Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Dame Alicia Markova and Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottis ...

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

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 ...

. In 1962 Jon Trimmer returned to the company after studying at the

Royal Ballet School The Royal Ballet School is a British school of classical ballet training founded in 1926 by the Anglo-Irish ballerina and choreographer Ninette de Valois. The school's aim is to train and educate outstanding classical ballet dancers, especially ...

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 on ...

) 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 during ...

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 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 ...

, Birmingham Royal Ballet and

Royal Winnipeg Ballet The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America. History It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also fou ...

. 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, Polynesians, Eastern Polynesian culture. Māori culture forms a distinctive part of Cul ...

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 ...

with costumes design by Tracy Grant Lord. In 2006 the company had 32 dancers, and in 2016 had 36. It performed nationally and overseas.

Current

In 2011,

Ethan Stiefel Ethan Stiefel (born February 13, 1973) is an American dancer, choreographer, and director. He was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) from 1997 until July 2012. He was the artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet fro ...

(USA) became Artistic Director, and brought his partner, American Ballet Theatre principal dancer

Gillian Murphy Gillian Murphy ( ; born April 11, 1979) is an American ballet dancer who is a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. Early life and education Raised in Florence, South Carolina, Murphy was a member of Columbia City Ballet before at ...

, as a guest dancer and coach to the company during his tenure. In November 2014 Francesco Ventriglia (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 labor ...

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 Anne Elizabeth Rowse (born 15 August 1931) is a retired New Zealand dancer and was director of the New Zealand School of Dance for 25 years. Biography Rowse was born on 15 August 1931, the daughter of Garnet William Rowse and Nancy May James ...

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 Tracy Grant Lord 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 The Queensland Ballet, founded in 1960 by Charles Lisner OBE, is the premier ballet company of Queensland, Australia and is based in Brisbane. Queensland Ballet is one of only three full-time, professional classical ballet companies in Australi ...

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 C ...

(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