18 March 2020

The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s planning for future performances and events entered a new phase this week with the confirmation from the Ministry of Health that all events for 500 people or more should not go ahead.

Our first national tour for 2020, Venus Rising, is due to open in Wellington on 29 May. At this stage we are not withdrawing these or other performances from public sale but are working with our venues and other partners to consider what may be possible for these performances to go ahead in some form. The need to safeguard the health and well-being of artists, audiences and our wider community is, and will continue to be, at the heart of all our decision making.

We recognise that dancers, unlike many professions, experience ‘close contact’ as an integral part of their working lives. A clean and controlled working environment is an important part of maintaining the good health of all our staff and artists and we have implemented additional cleaning processes and hygiene measures in order to facilitate this. As of yesterday our Dance Centre to all external groups.

Open classes and Ballet for Boys sessions due to take place in our studios on Sunday 29 March have been rescheduled to 31 May, and we are postponing our professional development seminar for dance teachers until the July school holidays. We are in touch with everyone who has booked for these events and our standard refund/exchange policies will apply.

Our participation in Ballet West’s Choreographic Festival has been cancelled due to travel restrictions. We wish Artistic Director Adam Sklute and his team in Salt Lake City all the best as they plan for a revised programme without the participation of the RNZB or Singapore Dance Theatre.

Our dance educators are continuing their work in schools and in prisons as far as possible and will be guided by the Ministry of Education and the Department of Corrections regarding any modifications to their programmes.

We have a working group, including all our senior leadership team, which is meeting daily to evolve our plans and manage communications. Should our plans for performances or other events change, we will let our supporters know at the earliest opportunity.

We know that the joy experienced through the living arts has the power to lift the spirits and bring people together, even at times when circumstances may keep us apart. Over the coming weeks we’ll be doing our best to keep everyone’s spirits up with our social media content and e-communications. The dance will go on, and as always, we thank you for your support with every step.