Tutus on Tour brings ballet to Kāpiti stage
The Royal New Zealand Ballet will be start their popular nationwide
Tutus on Tour in Kāpiti.
Tutus on Tour will be travelling to 11 different regional theatres, starting in Kāpiti, to mark the end of summer and the start of a brand new year of ballet.
The show will feature excerpts from former artistic director Russell Kerr’s production of Swan Lake, ahead of the company’s full-length
Swan Lake season in May.
Featuring designs by Kristian Fredrikson, created in 1996, the performances will include the
Black Swan pas de deux (dance for two), the famous Cygnets quartet (for four), the pas de trois (for three) from Act I, and the grand Hungarian and Spanish dances — a special highlight of Act III.
Complementing the classical splendour of Swan Lake is RNZB choreographer-in-residence Shaun James Kelly’s Prismatic, inspired by RNZB founder Poul Gnatt and choreographer Russell Kerr’s landmark Prismatic Variations, set to the music of Johannes Brahms.
Commissioned to mark the RNZB’s 70th birthday last year, Prismatic unites all the hallmarks of Kelly’s confident choreographic style — grounded in traditional ballet technique and inspired by the rhythmic and melodic arcs of the soaring score.
Closing the Tutus on Tour programme will be Clay by Alice Topp, a mesmerising, emotionally charged pas de deux which opens her acclaimed Logos, first seen in New Zealand last year in the RNZB’s popular season Lightscapes.
“Tutus on Tour goes to the heart of what the Royal New Zealand Ballet stands for: sharing the beauty and power of classical ballet with Kiwis far and wide,” artistic director Ty King-Wall said.
“From Whangārei to Oamaru, to begin our 2024 season traversing the length and breadth of New Zealand, with a collection of works that strongly represent the history and evolution of our company, is a joy. Look out for us at a theatre near you.”