Tutus on Tour coming to Marlborough

Blenheim is one of 11 regions where the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Tutus on Tour will take the stage over a whirlwind 23 days.

The popular nationwide tour returns this month and next, marking the end of summer and the start of a new year of ballet.

Incoming artistic director Ty KingWall said the tour embodied the core

values of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

“Sharing the beauty and power of classical ballet with Kiwis far and wide.

“To begin our 2024 season traversing the length and breadth of Aotearoa New Zealand, with a collection of works that strongly represent the history and evolution of our company, is a joy.”

The audience would get to see a glimpse of former artistic director

Russell Kerr’s production of Swan Lake, ahead of the company’s full-length Swan Lake season in May 2024 in Wellington, Auckland, Napier, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill.

Wearing dazzling designs by Kristian Fredrikson, created in 1996, the performances would include the Black Swan pas de deux (dance for two), the famous Cygnets quartet, the graceful Pas de

Trois from Act I, and the grand Hungarian and Spanish dances – a special highlight of Act III.

Also featured was Prismatic, by Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) choreographer in residence Shaun James Kelly, inspired by RNZB founder Poul Gnatt and choreographer Russell Kerr’s landmark Prismatic Variations, and set to the music of Johannes Brahms. Commissioned for the RNZB’s 70th birthday in 2023, Prismatic united 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.

The final piece would be Clay by

Alice Topp, a mesmerising, emotionally charged pas de deux which opened her acclaimed Logos, first seen in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2023 in the RNZB’s popular 2023 season Lightscapes.

The tour was described by RNZB as a new tribute to the Wellington-based national ballet company’s founding fathers.

Blenheim’s ASB Theatre Marlborough will host the performance in the McLauchlan Family Auditorium on March 10. The tour would continue on to Nelson, with three performances at the Theatre Royal Nelson, on March 14, 15 and 16.

After Tutus on Tour, and the Swan Lake season in May, RNZB will present Solace: Dance to Feed your Soul, a compilation of new and recent ballet by Wayne McGregor, Sarah Foster-Sproull and Alice Topp, coming to stages in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch.

See the full RNZB 2024 programme could be found atrnzb.org.nz.

SUPPLIED Tutus on tour is visiting Blenheim on its regional tour.