Dancer accidentally stabbed on stage

SYDNEY - The Shakespearean line "Is this a dagger which I see before me?" is associated with Macbeth - though it was also fitting for a Royal New Zealand Ballet performance of Romeo and Juliet after a dancer was accidentally stabbed on stage in Canberra.

Pierre Doncq has been ruled out of the remainder of the company's Australian tour after his thigh was pierced by a knife at Canberra Theatre on Saturday night.

Doncq, who played one of the Capulets in the fight scene with the Montagues in act one, left a blood trail on the stage and was taken to hospital for minor surgery.

The Belgium-born dancer, who joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet last September, is expected to be back on stage for their next production - The Nutcracker - which opens in Wellington at the end of October.

"We don't often do productions that involve weapons," said the ballet's communications manager Robyn McLean.

She thought an unfamiliar stage may have contributed to the accident.

"You only have to be slightly out in your placing and things can go wrong and, unfortunately, that's what's happened."

The company is now in Wollongong, south of Sydney, where they complete their tour on Sunday.

- NZPA