Pupils get to point with ballerinas

New Zealand Royal Ballet Company dance educator Pagan Dorgan teaches some moves to St Mary's Catholic School pupils. Photo / Ben Fraser

A lucky group of Rotorua pupils got to hear first hand what it's like to be a professional ballerina - and learning a few moves of their own along the way.

Royal New Zealand Ballet Company dance educator Pagan Dorgan and ballerina Laura Saxon Jones spent time talking to pupils at St Mary's Catholic Primary School last week.

The Royal New Zealand Ballet Company was in Rotorua for a one-night, sold-out performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre.

The school's librarian, Ruth O'Leary, organised the demonstration.

"I saw the company was coming to Rotorua so I sent them a message on Facebook to see if they would come to our school and they replied saying yes.

"Their demonstration kicks off a little initiative I have started called 'Reading Heroes' which aims to encourage a strong reading culture at school. The idea is to bring in people from all walks of life to talk about how much they like reading, as well as talk about what they do for a living."

She was thrilled to see the interaction between the pupils and Ms Saxon Jones and Ms Dorgan. "It is awesome to see the children listening intently to everything being said, it's not every day you get to meet a professional ballerina."

Ms Dorgan and Ms Saxon Jones spoke about their favourite books, read an excerpt from A Midsummer Night's Dream, answered audience questions about ballet and taught the pupils some basic ballet moves.

Some of the questions asked included, "where do you get your inspiration from?", "what is your favourite ballet move?" and "how many point shoes do you go through?"

Ms Saxon Jones said she was impressed with how engaged and interactive the pupils were. "I kept hearing myself say 'that's a great question, what a wonderful question' but all of them were great questions."

Sixty pupils also had the chance to take part in two workshops later in the day, led by Ms Dorgan.