RNZB's 2013 production of Swan Lake. Photo / Evan Li
RNZB's 2013 production of Swan Lake. Photo / Evan Li
The Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) has announced its 2024 season, bringing back two classic productions, Swan Lake and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for a tour across the country’s major cities next year.
RNZB’s Swan Lake was last performed in Aotearoa 10 years ago and reviews described it as “superemotional” (Metro) and “stunning” (New Zealand Herald).
But the company’s outgoing acting artistic director David McAllister says this year’s season of Swan Lake, opening in May, will pay homage to RNZB choreographers who have died, including former artistic director and kaumatua Russell Kerr.
The company has staged Kerr’s version of the iconic show four times since 1996. Next year’s version will keep traditions alive for a fifth.
RNZB Principal Mayu Tanigaito in Swan Lake. Photo / Ross Brown
Tchaikovsky’s instantly recognisable score will be played by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in Wellington, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in Ōtautahi, and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Meanwhile, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is being brought back from its New Zealand debut in 2015, just in time for Christmas next year.
The Shakespearean adaptation will be a collaborative effort with Queensland Ballet. Kiwi designer Tracy Grant Lord is behind the iconic woodland stage and costuming.
RNZB's 2021 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream performing in Wellington. Photo / Stephen A’Court
In winter, RNZB will perform Solace: dance to feed your soul inAuckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Britain’s Wayne McGregor brings the New Zealand premiere of his Infra, created for London’s Royal Ballet in 2008 and influenced by the loneliness, connections and consolations that lie beneath the surface of a city. Set to a soulful score by Max Richter, it also includes Julian Opie’s 18-metre LED artwork that echoes the constant movement of the 12-strong ensemble of dancers.
RNZB choreographer-in-residence Sarah Foster-Sproull creates a fifth work for RNZB, collaborating closely with the dancers to create her piece. Music by Eden Mulholland generates a “surging, primordial sense of becoming” in the work.
Lastly, RNZB alumna Alice Topp creates High Tide, her first original work for the company inspired by the music of Australian composer Graeme Koehne. Topp bases High Tide on the human condition: “growing pains, growing apart and growing together and learning to love and live with the light and shade, youth and age, within us all”.
Artists of The Royal Ballet in The Royal Ballet production of Infra, choreographed by Wayne McGregor in 2010. Photo / Royal Opera House / ArenaPAL
The ever-popular Tutus on Tour also returns to regional theatres in February to mark the end of summer and a new year of ballet.
Locations from Whangārei to Oamaru can look forward to a prelude to 2024′s major revival. Swan Lake excerpts include the “Black Swan” pas de deux and the famous “Cygnets” quartet.
Complementing the classical behemoth is choreographer-in-residence Shaun James Kelly’s Prismatic, another Russell Kerr inspiration similar to the late former artistic director’s Prismatic Variations, a 1959 collaboration with Danish dancer Poul Gnatt.
Rounding out the programme is Alice Topp’s Clay, an emotionally charged pas de deux first seen in Aotearoa earlier this year.
McAllister says next year’s ambitious shows will be in good hands once he departs as acting artistic director.
He is to be replaced in mid-November by Waihi-born and current teacher and alumna of the Australian Ballet, Ty King-Wall.
“He has always been a passionate New Zealander and a fantastic artist, teacher, and advocate for our artform,” says McAllister. “I am sure [Ty King-Wall] will be a devoted and inspiring leader for the RNZB and will usher in an exciting future for the company.”
