SMART THINKING
Tutus on Tour returns to the stage.
‘Tutus on Tour’ is back for 2021 and it will include the largest number of stops since the regional touring programme was reintroduced in 2017. From 26 February, the Royal New Zealand Ballet will return to 16 theatres across New Zealand with a show that combines classical ballet with new works postponed in 2020 due to lockdown.
Familiar favourites are the ‘White Swan’ pas de deux from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, when Prince Siegfried meets the mysterious swan maiden beside the moonlit lake; and Jules Perrot’s ‘Pas de Quatre’ (1845), a well-known showpiece from the Romantic era of ballet.
The programme is completed by two works originally planned for the cancelled ‘Venus Rising’ season in 2020 that the RNZB could not bear to leave behind. Andrea Schermoly’s sentimental ‘Within Without’ is a graceful piece depicting the pain of unintended childlessness; and Sarah Foster-Sproull’s ‘Ultra Folly’, commissioned by RNZB artistic director Patricia Barker in 2020, is a chamber ballet laying bare the secret desires of the dancers.
Barker says the team feels extremely fortunate to be back on stage. “To launch our 2021 season with such a spectacular ‘Tutus on Tour’ line-up is truly a treat for the dancers and our audiences,” she says. “The four works being presented are powerful, moving and beautifully crafted, each a shining jewel on their own. Put them together and it becomes a stunning evening of dance.”
‘Tutus on Tour’ is an intimate ballet experience, with shows taking place in small regional theatres. And with tickets at just $27-$37 for adults and $12-$22 for children, it makes ballet accessible to a much wider audience.
Tutus on Tour, 26 February - 16 March. rnzb.org.nz