Photos from 1970s performances
A glimpse back into landmark performances from the 1970s; through financial turmoil, groundbreaking performances of a high quality persisted, and laid foundations that we continue to build on today.
Giselle | 1973
Patricia Rianne and Jon Trimmer in Giselle, 1973.
Jon Trimmer and Janne Blanch in Giselle, directed by Bryan Ashbridge, 1973.
The production was staged in Auckland, with Bryan Ashbridge as Hilarion and Patricia O’Connor as Myrtha, and with principal coaching by Dorothea Ashbridge and Rowena Jackson Chatfield. Patricia Rianne was by this stage enjoying a distinguished career dancing in Europe but returned to guest for this production.
RNZB Collection, PA1-q-1071-13 ATL
Suite Sixteen | 1976
Philip Chatfield’s Suite Sixteen, 1976.
Philip chose the title to reflect the fact that the music, the Symphony in C, had been composed by Georges Bizet when he was 16; it was his own 16th choreography and there were 16 women in the company – many of whom had recently graduated from the National School of Ballet.
The Sleeping Beauty | 1978
The closing moments of Philip Chatfield’s production of The Sleeping Beauty, marking 25 years of the New Zealand Ballet, in 1978. Photograph by John Ashton.
Patricia Rianne and Jon Trimmer in The Sleeping Beauty, 1978, photograph by John Ashton, RNZB Collection, PA-Coll-8050-14-096, ATL
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