31.01.2025
Company News | January 2025
Introducing our new company members, celebrating exciting news and looking ahead to a busy and beautiful year of ballet in Aotearoa.
Dancers of the Royal New Zealand Ballet returned to the rehearsal studio on 15 January and are now well into preparations for the national ballet company’s first performances of the year: Tutus on Tour in association with Ryman Healthcare, this year visiting Kāpiti, Blenheim, Nelson, Kerikeri, Whangārei, Rotorua and Tauranga (21 February – 22 March); three performances in Wellington in partnership with Scottish Ballet (14 – 15 March); and school holiday performances of children’s ballet Dazzlehands in Wellington, Kāpiti and Upper Hutt (12 – 23 April).
The RNZB is this month joined by two guest choreographers from across the Tasman, Stephen Baynes, who is staging his 2008 ballet The Way Alone for its first New Zealand performances as part of Tutus on Tour and winter tour Home, Land and Sea, and RNZB alumna Annaliese Macdonald, who returns to Wellington to re-stage her Limerence, originally made for the RNZB’s digital Ballet Bites season in 2022 and now to be seen onstage in both Tutus on Tour and with Scottish Ballet.
The RNZB’s longest-serving dancer, Principal Mayu Tanigaito, has stepped back from performing as she and her husband, former RNZB Principal Paul Mathews, are expecting their first child, due in April. Mayu is supported by the Pye Foundation through the RNZB’s ‘Partner a Dancer’ programme. Before commencing her maternity leave, Mayu is continuing to work with the RNZB artistic team, teaching class both for the RNZB and at the New Zealand School of Dance and assisting with rehearsals for Tutus on Tour and our forthcoming collaboration with Scottish Ballet. We offer our warmest congratulations to Mayu and Paul and look forward to meeting our new little company member in the autumn.
The company has welcomed six new dancers. Emma Gavan and Jordan Sawtell, both new graduates from The Australian Ballet School, have joined us as Artists of the RNZB.
Emma Gavan grew up in Wollongong, Australia and trained locally before moving to Melbourne and The Australian Ballet School in 2019. She performed with The Australian Ballet as Young Clara in Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker: the Story of Clara, and in her graduating year undertook an exchange with Canada’s National Ballet School as well as performing in The Australian Ballet’s National Tour.
Jordan Sawtell grew up in Sydney, Australia where he started dancing at his local dance school at the age of eight. In 2016 Jordan performed in The Australian Ballet’s Coppélia and later Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker: The Story of Clara in 2017. Jordan joined The Australian Ballet School in 2020 and continued his training there until 2024, his graduate year. During his graduate year Jordan performed with The Australian Ballet on their National Tour, dancing George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante and The Sleeping Beauty Act III. In 2024, Jordan was also privileged to dance with The Australian Ballet in the world premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s Oscar.
We also welcome four graduates of the New Zealand School of Dance as Scholars for 2025: Todd Scholar Olivia Platt (Ngāti Whātua, Ngā Puhi), RNZB Foundation Scholar Hilary An-Roddie and Friedlander Foundation Scholars Angus O’Connell and Joshua Douglas, who returns to New Zealand after a year as a Jette Parker Young Artist at Queensland Ballet.
2025 marks a new beginning for the Todd Scholarship, one of New Zealand’s longest-standing performing arts awards, which has for more than two decades been funded by Todd Corporation to support a graduate of the New Zealand School of Dance in their first year with the RNZB. From this year, the Scholarship will be funded by the Todd Family Trust. The Todd family have had a long association with both the RNZB and the New Zealand School of Dance, including the late Sir John Todd’s chairmanship of the RNZB. The family were also generous supporters of the RNZB’s redevelopment of its home at the St James Theatre in 2022 – 3.
2025 Todd Scholar Olivia Platt who is of Ngāti Whātua and Ngāpuhi descent, grew up in Mangawhai and began her dance training under Lisa Johnson before continuing her training at the Mount Eden Ballet Academy and Anneliese Gilberd Academy.
In 2022 she moved to Wellington to commence training as a Classical Major at the New Zealand School of Dance. During this time, she attended Assemblée Internationale 2023 in Toronto. She also joined the company on secondment in 2023 for George Balanchine’s Serenade and in 2024 for Russell Kerr’s Swan Lake.
2025 is the sixth year of the Friedlander Foundation Scholarship, continuing the Friedlander family’s long and generous association with the RNZB. Both 2025 Friedlander Foundation Scholars are graduates of the New Zealand School of Dance.
Angus O’Connell began ballet at the age of nine in Christchurch, training under Ann Judson. He continued to develop his skills at Southern Ballet under the guidance of Glen Harris and Lioudmila Solovieva before joining the New Zealand School of Dance in 2022, graduating in 2024. Angus was previously seconded to the RNZB for Romeo & Juliet (2023), Swan Lake and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2024), as part of secondment opportunities between the company and the NZSD.
Joshua Douglas was born in Auckland. He started ballet at the age of 12, training at Philippa Campbell School of Ballet, commencing full-time training in 2022 at the New Zealand School of Dance and graduating at the end of 2023. During his second year at the School he participated in a student exchange programme with Canada’s National Ballet School and represented the New Zealand School of Dance with a solo performance, Val Caniparoli’s Aria, at the RNZB’s 70th birthday ‘Platinum’ gala.
Joshua spent 2024 with Queensland Ballet as a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. He now joins the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2025 as a Friedlander Foundation Scholar.
2025 is the fifth year of the RNZB Foundation Scholarship, supported by generous ballet lovers through the Royal New Zealand Ballet Foundation. 2025 RNZB Foundation Scholar Hilary An-Roddie grew up in Auckland and trained at Mount Eden Ballet Academy before commencing full-time training at the New Zealand School of Dance. She was seconded to the RNZB for both Lightscapes (2023) and Swan Lake (2024) and was selected as a Creative Lab Student Choreographer for Assemblée Internationale 2023.
We welcome Emma, Jordan, Olivia, Angus, Joshua and Hilary to the Royal New Zealand Ballet as new members of the RNZB whānau and wish them every success and happiness as they continue their dance journey with us.
RNZB Dance Educators are looking forward to a busy year, starting with in-school workshops and open classes in regional centres and Tutus on Tour for Schools performances in Kāpiti, Blenheim, Nelson and Tauranga.
The Education team will be closely involved in the presentation of Dazzlehands, which was developed in 2024 by Education and Community Engagement Manager Lauren Byrne in partnership with choreographer Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson, author Sacha Cotter, illustrator Josh Morgan and Huia Publishers. Costumes are by Victoria Gridley and music by William Philipson, with narration by Gareth Tiopara-Waaka. The original production was supported by the Fehl Charitable Trust.
Performances will include events with narration in Te Reo and New Zealand Sign Language, as well as relaxed performance options for whānau with special sensory needs.
Construction is underway on the company’s major new production of The Nutcracker, choreographed by Artistic Director Ty King-Wall and designed by Tracy Grant Lord which will close 2025 with a 35-performance national tour, 30 October – 20 December, in partnership with Ryman Healthcare. Development continues on the two new commissions which will feature in the company’s winter programme: Moss Te Ururangi Patterson’s Home, Land and Sea, for which the RNZB will be joined by six dancers from The New Zealand Dance Company, and Shaun James Kelly’s Chrysalis. The company looks forward to welcoming the creative team for Cathy Marston’s My Brilliant Career to Wellington in March, which will premiere, alongside a revival of Loughlan Prior’s 2021 The Firebird, in association with Avis, at the end of April.
Plans are well advanced for 2026 and beyond, with plans including a major international collaboration on new work and a post-Covid return to overseas touring. The RNZB’s strategic plan for 2025 – 9 is now available to view online.
The RNZB looks forward to continuing to work in partnership with sponsors and funders throughout 2025, especially the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, Manatū Taonga, Principal Partner Ryman Healthcare, National Touring Partner Pub Charity Limited, Northern Partner Foundation North, Education Partner the Lion Foundation and Wellington Partner Wellington City Council.