Waitarere man NZ’S top lifeguard

A Waitarere man who can’t get enough of the beach in his hometown has been named lifeguard of the year.

Nathan Berry, 27, was named lifeguard of the year at the Surf Life Saving New Zealand awards in Auckland on Saturday.

Berry has been a lifeguard at Waitarere Beach for 12 years.

In June, Berry won regional lifeguard of the year and although he thought there were others more worthy of holding the national title, he was proud to receive the award.

Berry was encouraged by a friend to take up surf lifesaving at 18 years old and has donned the uniform at the beach every summer since, working his way up from trainee to club captain.

Despite heading to Christchurch to study for four years, Berry returned to his Horowhenua roots, where he now works as an electrical engineer.

Helping people during their toughest times and seeing them bounce back was what kept him motivated, he said.

Berry said one incident that resonated with him was when he was 18 and a girl was swept out to sea.

‘‘I remember the terror in this girl’s face.’’

Although she was frightened after the ordeal, he was amazed when she came back two weeks later and braved the water once again.

Berry also gained confidence by becoming a lifeguard – going from a shy teenager to someone who could talk to anyone, he said.

‘‘It’s shaped who I am immensly.’’

Berry encouraged anyone who wanted to become a lifeguard to give it a go, saying it taught him life skills, such as confidence, and it was a way to help others in their most vulnerable moments.

In a statement, a spokeswoman from Surf Life Saving New Zealand said the award was the pinnacle of surf lifesaving and highlighted the skill, experience and dedication of people who gave up their time to make beaches safer.

Three Palmerston North club members Ian Ferguson, Colin Luke and Kevin Shute were also recognised for 50 years’ service to surf lifesaving.

In this new production based on Shakespeare’s popular play, the Royal New Zealand Ballet has again struck gold with its spectacular account of how love across the divide can go very wrong.

The company’s former artistic director Francesco Ventriglia has returned to New Zealand to craft a sumptuous visual feast with magnificent set and costumes matched with gloriously evocative lighting. This all superbly enhances his excellent choreography, so beautifully realised by the dancers.

Throughout the evening the company seemed in complete command, from the marvellous act one fight scenes, which set the context of this tale of doomed love, to the beautiful climactic pas de deux, as Romeo (Kohei Iwamoto) and Juliet (Mayu Tanigaito) realise the ballet’s inevitable conclusion.

These two leads danced with great commitment, their passion and joy as they came together immediately obvious. The rest of the company realised their individual roles with assured sincerity, ensuring the empathy of the audience as they became deeply absorbed by the ballet.

It can only be a pity, therefore, that Prokofiev’s score did not match the visual feast on stage.

Many modern productions perform the ballet to a shortened score. Here, the complete production was performed to a recorded soundtrack that only highlighted the full score’s somewhat limited emotional intensity and sumptuousness.

The outstanding work of the New Zealand Ballet company masterfully masked the music’s inherent weakness and they can only be congratulated.