Curtains for NZ Ballet dancers

HUNDREDS of cows were saved from drowning after a Manawatu¯ community pulled together to rescue them.

Pohangina Valley farmer Shane Carroll said his heart sank as he watched 200 of his cows swept down a swollen river during the wild weather that lashed the region earlier this month.

However, his community quickly rallied behind him to conduct a region-wide search THE Royal New Zealand Ballet is losing more New Zealandtrained staff, after a troubled year in which it lost 16 dancers. This year, three more dancers have announced their departures.

The news of a third resignation comes just one day after RNZB executive director Frances Turner, pictured, announced she, too, would leave the company.

An RNZB spokesman yesterday confirmed Felipe that eventually found almost all of the missing cattle.

As the Pohangina River filled in the heavy rain, Carroll and a farmhand set out to move the 300 cattle to higher ground.

‘‘But the river came up so fast we couldn’t get there as quickly as we needed too.’’

Carroll spent nearly two hours in water up to his waist, herding the cattle towards safer pastures until disaster struck.

‘‘One old girl dived into the river, and 250 of the silly things followed her in.’’

Buffeted by the current and Domingos would be leaving the company. The Brazilian dancer had trained at the NZ Dance School, before joining the RNZB in 2016.

The company had already confirmed that two NZ Dance School graduates, Georgia Powley and William Fitzgerald, had resigned.

The dance company battled employment disputes and issues at the end of last year, culminating with an independent review into company culture. cattle, he desperately fought to drive the animals back onto the riverbank. ‘‘They nearly took me with them, but I managed to turn about 90 cows around.’’

But the rest were swept away, leaving Carroll with a potential $300,000 loss.

But that was when the rural community’s local spirit kicked in, as the farmer started to receive offer after offer of help and Fonterra Manawatu¯ area manager Max Johnston rang almost every farmer on the banks of the Manawatu¯ and Pohongina Rivers to recruit