Royal New Zealand ballet dancer Lucy Green will, at the end of November, return to Australia to take up the role of soloist with Queensland Ballet.

RNZB Artistic Director Francesco Ventriglia wishes Lucy all the best for this next step in her career. “Lucy is a very talented artist and I have very much enjoyed working with her over the last two years.  She has been a wonderful member of the company and she will always be part of the RNZB’s extended family.  There will certainly be opportunities for her to return as a guest artist in the near future.”

Lucy Green who will start with Queensland Ballet under its artistic director Li Cunxin (whose life story was captured in the film Mao’s Last Dancer) in January 2017 says:  “Thanks to the RNZB the last seven years have been some of the best of my life. I’ve been given the most wonderful opportunities and have built a career I never thought possible. I’d like to thank the three artistic directors who’ve nurtured my career to date: Gary Harris, Ethan Stiefel and Francesco Ventriglia, as well as the entire RNZB family. I have loved being a part of your national company and representing New Zealand on the world stage. It’s the right time for me to make a move but I would love to accept the invitation to come back as a guest artist.”

Lucy Green joined the RNZB in 2010.  Her audition and offer to join the national ballet company was captured by the TV3 series The Secret Lives of Dancers, with the subsequent two series following her as one of several featured dancers.  Lucy has performed the title roles in Giselle and Cinderella, together with the leading roles of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Swanhilda in Coppélia, Kitri in Don Quixote and Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Her international appearances with the RNZB include Giselle in China, the USA, the UK and Italy and Titania in Hong Kong, and at the end of 2015 she performed as Guest Principal Artist for Scottish Ballet when they performed the RNZB’s production of Cinderella.

Lucy’s last performances as a member of the RNZB will be in the four Wellington only shows of renowned British choreographer Liam Scarlett’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (25– 27 November.)  The production created by Scarlett for the RNZB in 2015 was a highly successful co–production with Queensland Ballet.