In his 15 years with the RNZB, Paul Mathews has excelled in contemporary and classical works, as well as creating some memorable characters onstage. Paul’s performances in 2018 highlighted his versatility as an artist, beginning with the tormented Alastair Stewart in The Piano: the ballet and continuing with striking performances in Corey Baker’s The Last Dance and Kylián’s Petite Mort. Paul appeared as one of the ‘sons’ in Danielle Rowe’s Remember, Mama, and ended the year performing the roles of Drosselmeier, the Mouse King, the Sugar Plum Fairy’s Cavalier and Herr Stahlbaum in Val Caniparoli’s The Nutcracker. 2019 roles included Siegfried in Black Swan, White Swan, Artifact II and both the Transformed Witch and the Father in Hansel & Gretel. In 2020 he appeared as Morfran, together with a number of other solo roles, in The Sleeping Beauty.

In 2017, Paul received critical acclaim from reviewers around New Zealand for his portrayal of Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. He also performed in Alexander Ekman’s Episode 31 as part of the Three by Ekman triple bill, and appeared as the Toreador in Roland Petit’s Carmen.

Since joining the RNZB from the New Zealand School of Dance in 2006, as the Todd Scholar, Paul has performed a wide variety of leading roles, including Scrooge and Young Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, Hilarion in Giselle, Von Rothbart in Swan Lake, the Leading Man in Who Cares?, Tybalt in Christopher Hampson’s Romeo and Juliet, the Blackamoor in Petrouchka, and Hook in Peter Pan.

Paul has also performed many works by international and New Zealand choreographers including Christopher Hampson, Javier De Frutos, Andrew Simmons, Jorma Elo, Benjamin Millepied, George Balanchine, Larry Keigwin, Ethan Stiefel, David Dawson, and Liam Scarlett.

In 2014, Paul travelled to Tokyo to guest with Ballet Chambre Ouest for the creation and world premiere of Jo Funaki’s Counter-Heartbeats. 2015 roles include Gamache and the Don in Don Quixote, appearing in the original casts of both Dear Horizon and Passchendaele, and Demetrius and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 2016, Paul performed in Andonis Foniadakis’s Selon désir, as part of the RNZB’s acclaimed Speed of Light programme, and as both the Lion and the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. He ended the year reprising both Hilarion in Giselle and Demetrius and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in both Hong Kong and Wellington.

Paul is also active as a teacher, teaching masterclasses in his home town of Auckland alongside his wife Mayu Tanigaito.

Paul is supported by the Pye Foundation