The New Zealand School of Dance was established in 1967 and is a tertiary educational institute in New Zealand that teaches contemporary dance and ballet. It started as the National School of Ballet, and after contemporary dance was added in 1982 the name was changed to the New Zealand School of Dance. [1]
The school has two qualifications, a two year diploma or a three year diploma with a classical or contemporary dance stream, and prepares students for careers as professional dancers. The New Zealand School of Dance is housed in Te Whaea: The National Centre for Dance and Drama in Wellington, New Zealand. [2]
The director of the school when it was first set up was Sarah Neil with nine full-time and four part-time students in 1967. [3] The school was funded by the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council and formed in with the New Zealand Ballet Trust Board. [4] For the first 15 years it was called the National School of Ballet. Other directors include Russell Kerr (1967 - 1968), Dorothy Daniels (1969 - 1971), Philip Chatfield (1972 - 1975), and Rowena Jackson (1975 - 1978). [5] The current director is Garry Trinder appointed in 1998 and his first role was to oversee the move into the current premises at Te Whaea. [6]
Graduates of the school have been in the following companies:
Akram Khan Company, Atamira Dance Company, The Australian Ballet, Australian Dance Theatre, Ballet Arizona, Black Grace, Co:3 Australia, Dancenorth, English National Ballet, Footnote Dance, Hofesh Shechter II, Houston Ballet, Java Dance Company, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Leipzig Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, New Zealand Dance Company, Queensland Ballet, Rambert, Royal New Zealand Ballet, The Sarasota Ballet, Singapore Ballet, Studio Wayne McGregor, Sydney Dance Company, Thüringer Staatsballett, The Washington Ballet, West Australian Ballet. [7]
In the contemporary dance area notable graduates include Raewyn Hill who is active in Australia as a choreographer and artistic director, and Lisa Densem who lives and works in Berlin as a choreographer. [8] [9] In New Zealand are Shona McCullagh who set up the New Zealand Dance Company and went on to be the artistic director of the Auckland Festival, [10] Taiaroa Royal and Taane Mete who formed Okareka Dance Company [11] [12] [13] and Ross McCormack whose company is called Muscle Mouth. [14] Daniel Belton is the artistic director of Good Company Arts. [15]
Graduate Katherine Skelton (née Grange) is a soloist with the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2021 and Paul Mathews is a principal. He has been with the company since 2006. Graduate Tirion Law was promoted to principal of The National Ballet of Canada in 2024. [16]
The following lists events that happened during 2002 in New Zealand.
Douglas James Wright was a New Zealand dancer and choreographer in the New Zealand arts establishment from 1980 until his death in 2018. Although he announced his retirement from dance in 2008, on the occasion of the publication of his first book of poetry, Laughing Mirror he subsequently continued to make dance works, including touring The Kiss Inside during April 2015.
Formerly known as Auckland Festival, Auckland Arts Festival or Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Makaurau is an annual arts and cultural festival held in Auckland, New Zealand. The Festival features works from New Zealand, the Pacific, Asia and beyond, including world premieres of new works and international performing arts events.
Loughlan Prior is a dancer and choreographer based in New Zealand. He creates theatre, film and multimedia projects, and has had his work presented in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, Germany and the United States.
Atamira Dance Company is a Māori contemporary dance company in Aotearoa based at the Corban Estate Arts Centre in Auckland.
The New Zealand Dance Company is an Auckland based, nationally focused contemporary dance company.
Footnote New Zealand Dance is New Zealand's oldest contemporary dance company. Based in Wellington, it has been described as "New Zealand’s most enduring and influential contemporary dance company."
The Limbs Dance Company was formed in Auckland, New Zealand in May 1977 and disbanded in Wellington in September 1989. Limbs was "the first contemporary dance company in New Zealand to win a general following", and performed alongside notable New Zealand acts such as Split Enz.
Raewyn Hill is a New Zealand choreographer and dancer now active in Australia.
Shona Margaret McCullagh is a New Zealand choreographer, dancer, filmmaker and artistic director. McCullagh was the founding director of the New Zealand Dance Company and was appointed artistic director of the Auckland Festival in 2019.
Jack Gray is a New Zealand choreographer, researcher and teacher of contemporary Māori dance.
Sue Paterson (1953–2018) was a New Zealand theatre and festival director. In 2017 she was named Senior New Zealander of the Year.
Daniel Alexander Belton is a New Zealand dancer, choreographer and film-maker based in Dunedin. He is the co-founder and artistic director of Good Company Arts (GCA). He is an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate. His works have been shown in America, Europe, South America, Asia and the Pacific.
Tracy Grant Lord is a leading New Zealand scenographer and costume designer of ballet, theatre and opera. She has worked with numerous Australasian performance companies including the Royal New Zealand Ballet, New Zealand Opera, Australian Ballet, Opera Australia, Queensland Ballet as well as the Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland Theatre Companies.
Taiaroa Royal is a New Zealand dancer and choreographer. Royal co-founded the contemporary Māori dance company Okareka with Taane Mete. As a dancer he has performed with New Zealand companies the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Douglas Wright Dance Company, Atamiria and Black Grace. He has choregraphed contemporary dance and also music videos including for Evermore and Ardijah, and for the World of Wearable Art (WOW) in Wellington. He is a 2023 recipient of an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award.
Taane Mete is a New Zealand dancer, choreographer and yoga teacher.
Sarah Foster-Sproull is a New Zealand choreographer, dancer and senior lecturer in dance studies at the University of Auckland.
Russell Ian Kerr was a New Zealand ballet dancer, choreographer, and producer. After spending the 1950s dancing in Europe, he returned to New Zealand where he was instrumental in the development of the New Zealand Ballet Company and ballet as an art form in New Zealand. He was recognised as one of New Zealand's most significant living artists in 2005 with an Icon Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand.
Louise Mary Potiki Bryant is a New Zealand choreographer, dancer and video artist. She has choreographed a number of award-winning performances, and is a founding member of Atamira Dance Company. She designs, produces and edits videos of performances for music videos, dance films and video art installations. She was made an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate in 2019.
Tempo Dance Festival is an annual pan-genre professional dance festival held in Auckland, New Zealand and is the 'longest standing annual dance event' of New Zealand, founded in 2003.
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