NZ’s first ballet academy for the Hutt
Moscow, St Petersburg, London, Lower Hutt?
The first ballet academy in New Zealand is set to open at Chilton Saint James School in Lower Hutt next year.
Auditions will be held next month for a limited number of places for male and female students from across New Zealand.
For serious ballet dancers such as Caitlin Hickey, 15, who practises ballet for 20 hours each week on top of school, getting into the academy will help her on her quest to become a ballerina.
The new Chilton Ballet Academy will give ballet pride of place as a subject alongside academic disciplines.
The all-girls school will take a total of 15 male and female ballet students who are starting year 10 or 11.
Hickey is a student at Chilton Saint James and Chilton Dance Centre.
‘‘It would be great to be able to start dancing in school hours and get a feel for what it would be like for full time training,’’ she said.
Apart from providing a professional grounding, dancing at the academy would allow the Waikanae resident to get home a bit earlier.
The year 10 student wakes at 6.30 each morning and gets home after 10pm most days.
She loves what she does, but would enjoy it even more if she could incorporate her training into her school day.
Starting a dedicated ballet academy in New Zealand had ‘‘always been a dream’’ of Chilton Dance Centre director Bronwyn Bennett.
It would provide aspiring dancers dedicated schooling such as already existed in Britain and Australia. ’’In New Zealand there was never that opportunity.’’
Incorporating dance instruction into the school programme would place greater emphasis on developing the craft of ballet, Bennett said.
‘‘They can have more focus on the classical ballet technique and the artistry in general.’’
Bennett approached multiple people over 12 years about starting the academy, but ‘‘they have never felt it was possible or would work’’, she said.
However, the new principal at Chilton Saint James, Kathy LordParker, supported the plan.
Lloyd-Parker said ballet required dedicated training from a young age, but training should not come at the cost of academic achievement.