Mass departures hit ballet company
Four dancers whose contracts weren’t renewed under new regime file personal grievance cases
Four dancers with the Royal New Zealand Ballet are fighting to keep their jobs and have filed personal grievance claims after their contracts were not renewed.
It is understood close to half the 36 dancers employed by the national ballet company will have left by the new year — not all by choice — less than six months after a new artistic director took over.
It is the second year in a row the country’s only classical ballet company, which in the 2016 financial year received $4.88 million in government funding, has gone through an artistic upheaval.
Late last year it was reported that as many as 12 dancers and other staff had left — three or four of them because of issues with the artistic director of almost three years, Francesco Ventriglia. Less than six months later, Ventriglia handed over the helm to Patricia Barker, formerly artistic director of Grand Rapids Ballet in Michigan in the United States.
Wellington lawyer David Patten, who was the dancers’ union secretary, said about 16 of them were leaving. Some were retiring, others dancing elsewhere and “at least four” did not have contracts renewed.
The dancers were still in negotiations with the company so Patten was unable to elaborate on details of the grievance claims beyond saying it concerned non-renewal of contracts.
Previously dancers had been under the impression contracts would be renewed on an annual basis, he said.
“Contracts have traditionally been for 12 months unless a dancer has not performed in that 12-month period. The contracts are typically renewed, subject to that dancer wanting to stay with the company.”
While Patten said the renewals were not written into the contracts the practice had been to renew “unless something untoward has happened”.
Company media spokesman Jeremy Brick confirmed in a statement that “a small number” of dancers had not had their contracts
Contracts have traditionally been for 12 months unless a dancer has not performed in that 12-month period. David Patten, lawyer
renewed for 2018. A number of dancers had left throughout the year to retire or take up other dancing positions, and he said 16 would have left by the end of the year but it wasn’t a “mass exodus”.
“Like most ballet companies around the world, RNZB dancers are on annual contracts. It is the nature of the profession that, as careers are short, dancers may choose to move from company to company, in order to explore new opportunities or repertoire. Some dancers will be leaving the RNZB at the end of 2017 to take up positions in companies overseas,” his statement said.
“Many dancers retire from the stage in their early 30s, and there are three dancers choosing to retire from the RNZB at the end of 2017; one dancer will also be taking parental leave in 2018. Six dancers with close ties to Europe chose to depart during the year to take up opportunities closer to home. As has been the case in previous years, a small number of dancers employed by the company during 2017 have not been offered contracts for 2018.”
Wellington-born Alayna Ng, who has been with the company since 2007, is understood to have been one of those planning to retire as a dancer.
Of those leaving for other companies, Tonia Looker, Kohei Iwamoto and Isabella Swietlicki will be joining the Queensland Ballet, already home to ex-RNZB dancer Lucy Green of TV3’s The Secret Lives of Dancers.
Looker, originally from Australia, has been with the New Zealand company since 2008. Iwamoto, originally from Japan, has been there since 2010 and Swietlicki came from the English National Ballet at the start of this year.
Queensland Ballet’s artistic director, Li Cunxin, said last week he was delighted to welcome the “incredibly accomplished and talented” dancers.
No open auditions for replacement dancers have been advertised by the RNZB though it does have an invitation on its site for dancers to send in expressions of interest.
Despite earlier reports from sources in the dance industry indicating no dancers had been employed from the New Zealand School of Dance, the RNZB yesterday announced its 2018 roster would include 2018’s Todd Scholar, Luke Cooper, who was born in Palmerston North and graduated from the school at the end of 2016
Meanwhile the company recently announced that two others from the Grand Rapids Ballet, where Barker was artistic director, would be joining its ranks.
Nicholas and Laura Schultz would be leaving their roles as ballet masters to join the current RNZB ballet master, Clytie Campbell, in the new year.
The ballet master aids choreographers and works with dancers.