Three extraordinary works.
Choreographed by inspiring and internationally celebrated choreographers, capturing the spirit and power of Venus Rising – brightest of stars, herald of the dusk and of the dawn.
Aurum by Royal New Zealand Ballet alumna Alice Topp glows with inner light and profound peace. Meditative and moving, this award-winning ballet, created for The Australian Ballet in 2018, is shaped by kintsugi, the Japanese art of healing cracks with pure gold – celebrating the beauty of the broken.
Royal New Zealand Ballet Choreographer in Residence, Sarah Foster-Sproull’s The Autumn Ball, commissioned in 2021 by the Wanaka Festival of Colour, dances through the circle of life with tenderness, grace and floor-filling fun.
Global dance legend Twyla Tharp brings this showcase of top-flight international dance to a climax with the New Zealand premiere of her Waterbaby Bagatelles. 27 dancers are sent spinning across the stage, sparkling in an ever-changing ocean of light.
This is a generous, glorious celebration of ballet and the joy of pure dance created by some of the finest choreographers working today.
Meditative and moving, Alice Topp’s award-winning Aurum is inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi, the practice of mending cracks in precious ceramics with gold, creating a new whole which celebrates the beauty of the broken. Bendigo-born and Resident Choreographer at the Australian Ballet, Topp started her career dancing with the RNZB, which holds a special place in her heart along with Aotearoa’s theatres and dance lovers.
The Autumn Ball, created by one of New Zealand’s brightest choreographic stars Sarah Foster-Sproull and commissioned in 2021 by the Wānaka Festival of Colour, dances through the circle of life with tenderness, grace and floor-filling fun. The driving rhythms of Eden Mulholland’s commissioned score will have the audience wishing that they could join in the dance.
Twyla Tharp is one of the world’s greatest living choreographers. In Waterbaby Bagatelles, created in 1994 and never seen in Aotearoa, 27 dancers leap and spin across the stage in an ever-changing ocean of light; the music flowing seamlessly as groups of dancers sparkle and glow.
