Storybook dream becomes a reality

Katie Hurst-Saxton as Swanhilda and Jon Trimmer as toymaker Dr Coppelius vie with their magic in Coppelia.

The experience of one of New Zealand's finest former ballerinas and the promise of one of ballet's youngest stars are among the special ingredients of the Royal New Zealand Ballet's Christmas treat.

Coppelia is the last and most lighthearted of the big romantic ballets, with its tale of a lonely old toymaker, a handsome young man with a roving eye, a bewitching doll, mischievous heroine, tutus and tiaras.

Sherilyn Kennedy, whose career spanned 21 years as principal dancer with the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet before she retired in 1995, has spent five weeks with the company restaging the work and passing on her knowledge of its intricacies.

Katie Hurst-Saxton, the company's youngest member at 19, shares the principal role of the feisty heroine, Swanhilda, with Yu Takayama.

Takayama was outstanding in the role of Madam Butterfly in August.

Hurst-Saxton's storybook success is the dream of hundreds of little girls come true.

"New Zealand has such a small population," says Kennedy, who returned to New Zealand to become director and senior teacher at the International Ballet Academy in Christchurch, where Hurst-Saxton was a student.

"How often does a real ballerina come along? There was Rowena Jackson, me, Fiona Tonkin, Amy Hollingsworth ... "

And now Katie Hurst-Saxton, blond and beautiful with a perfect dancer's body, who shows every possibility of following in those famous footsteps.

"She has natural talent and technique that is rare in someone so young," says Kennedy. "She has all the qualities required, sitting waiting, ready to develop, ready to go."

Hurst-Saxton, a thoroughly modern miss off-stage - who loves hats, frogs, caramel slices and Frank Sinatra, who writes poetry and hates onions - began ballet lessons at the age of five, inspired by her mother's Princess Tina ballet books. At eight she started going to competitions, sometimes travelling to Ashburton and Timaru from her home-town of Christchurch.

At the start she achieved mainly commended and highly commended status but within a few years was winning frequently.

"I just had more understanding by then of what it all meant and why you go out on stage and dance for people," she says. "For me, it is about doing your very best and - when you hear the applause - knowing you have made the people watching you happy."

By the time she was 12, Hurst-Saxton was dancing full-time at the International Ballet Academy, putting in days that began at 8.30am and were filled with classes in pointe, pas de deux and character dancing.

Students at the academy turn to their books at 4pm to do correspondence lessons before dinner. And some nights, Hurst-Saxton went back to school for RAD lessons.

"If I missed out on anything by dancing full time, I didn't know," she says. "If I had the choice again, I think I might choose high school and get a good education. But I have no regrets. I am here. It paid off for me."

When the Royal New Zealand Ballet was in Christchurch in 2002 performing The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Sherilyn Kennedy invited artistic director Gary Harris to come and see her most promising students in action.

The result was an invitation to Hurst-Saxton and fellow student Brigid Costello to join the company as student extras for its Swan Lake season.

"I had 10 days to get my stuff together and find somewhere to live in Wellington," Hurst-Saxton says. She found board with family friends. Before Swan Lake even opened, both young women were offered full-time contracts.

In her two years with the company Hurst-Saxton has gained her RAD solo seal, gone flatting, learned to cook, toured New Zealand and been on a ground-breaking tour of Britain in April and May. Highlights of that experience were dancing at Sadler's Wells, visiting her father's hometown of Nottingham, and going to the Queen musical We Will Rock You.

"They are my favourite band ... and I had the time of my life."

When Harris first saw Hurst-Saxton, her potential immediately impressed him.

Two years on he has cast her as the lead in Coppelia "because it is a great role for young dancers, very challenging, technically demanding and has a great sense of fun about it without being too scary - like an Odette or Aurora.

"It certainly pushes the comfort zone and I feel Katie is ready for that challenge.

"She has a good stage presence and is very confident. She certainly carries it off."

Hurst-Saxton says she can relate well to the character of Swanhilda. "She is a bit of a feisty little girl and a really fun character to play. It is quite a hard role to do but when I get it, execute all those steps right, I just float on the buzz of it afterwards. I sometimes just think, wow, here I am in my first principal role at 19, already getting the chance to prove myself.

"It is hard work, but it is all worth it. I get this satisfaction from knowing I can do it. It feels just like it is meant to be."

Performance

* What: Coppelia, with the Royal New Zealand Ballet

* Where and when: Aotea Centre, Dec 1-5, 7.30pm; 2.30pm matinee Sat; 6.30pm Sun