My Space: Ballet dancer Mayu Tanigaito shares her favourite place.

Wellington’s Royal New Zealand Ballet Dance Centre is Mayu Tanigaito’s favourite place

Describe the space: “We have been in the Royal New Zealand Ballet Dance Centre since 2019, while our home at the St James Theatre is being earthquake strengthened. It’s on Wakefield St next to the Michael Fowler Centre and is a large ground floor studio with very big windows and a lot of natural light. The steel supports of the building are visible, giving it an industrial feel. It’s a fully equipped professional ballet studio, with a high quality sprung dance floor, specialised floor covering, about 15m of mirrors that are 2m tall, a grand piano, speaker system, acoustic panels, infrared heaters and air conditioning. With windows on two sides passers-by can sit and watch us rehearse, giving us a lovely connection to our Wellington home.” What inspires you about this space? “This is where the dancers come together every morning for classes, continuing to hone our craft. We also have our rehearsals in the studio, so a lot of our improvements and special moments happen here. The studio is where new works are created, so all the dancing that people see on stage has been created from nothing and sculpted into the final product that the audience enjoys.” What feelings does it evoke when you are in the space? “Ever since I started ballet, the studio is one of my favourite places. As much as I like to be on stage, when I come into the studio I can almost reset myself to focus on dancing. I feel centred, calm and grounded. Even on days off I sometimes come into the studio, not necessarily to push myself, but almost for more meditative purposes.” What is your role? “It’s my 10th year with the RNZB where I am a principal dancer. Principal dancers generally perform the leading roles in our ballets. I am currently recovering from a knee injury but am planning to be back to perform in our tour of Giselle, which starts in Wellington in May.”