News & Events
THIRD YEAR STUDENT CHOREOGRAPHERS
Students in their third year of full-time study at the New Zealand School of Dance have 
created innovative new contemporary dance works for NZSD Choreographic Season 2013.
“Choreographic Season is an amazing opportunity for us to explore both our own individual movement vocabularies and things that are relevant to us as young people,” said third year student Sarah Gatzonis.
Titled And Then it Moved the show is the result of four intensive months of preparation for these first time choreographers. They have collaborated with technical students from Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School and with live musicians who are not just on stage, but interacting with the choreography.
All the third year students involved in And Then it Moved will take up secondments during their final year of study in 2013, with professional companies that include Sydney Dance Company, Expressions Dance Company, Australian Dance Theatre and Dancenorth in Australia, and New Zealand Dance Company, Footnote Dance, and Atamira in New Zealand.
The School has been invited to take And Then it Moved to Auckland for Tempo Dance Festival and to The Body Festival in Christchurch in October.
You can Book tickets online for the Wellington season 15 - 25 May 2013.
NZSD SUCCESSFULLY BOOSTED
The NZSD Boosted crowd funding project reached 100% funded in April, successfully raising $5,000 for Choreographic Season 2013.
Thank you to everyone who gave to the project and helped us reach our target.
Launched on 21 March 2013, Boosted is a brand new crowd funding platform created by the Arts Foundation. The New Zealand School of Dance had one of the very first launch projects on the site, with 30 days to achieve the target of $5000.
The funding will help to create a unique set, lighting and costumes for Choreographic Season 2013. For the first time the show breaks traditional performance boundaries with live musicians playing alongside the dancers. Thank you to the 63 individuals and companies who have supported our talented students to get this brave, inventive show on stage.
Choreographic Season 2013 - AND THEN IT MOVED
Photo: New Zealand School of Dance students. Photographed by Stephen A'Court
SUCCESS AT AHA
Congratulations to the students from the New Zealand School of Dance who shone at the Alana Haines Australasian Awards in March 2013.
Tynan Wood took top honours winning the Supreme Award.
Here are the NZSD student placings:
Full-time students:
Tynan Wood - Winner Supreme Awards Group B, William Fitzgerald - 2nd runner up Supreme Awards Group B, Tirion Law Lok Huen - 5th place Supreme Awards Group B
Jiang Peng Fei - semi-finalist Supreme Awards Group, B Stefaan Morrow - semi-finalist Supreme Awards Group B
Ruth Austin - quarter-finalist Supreme Awards Group B, Chen Rui Feng - quarter-finalist Supreme Awards Group B, Jemma Grenfell - quarter-finalist Supreme Awards Group B
Scholars:
Damen Axtens - 1st runner up Junior Scholars, Cadence Barrack - semi finalist Junior Scholars, Isabel Morris - semi-finalist Junior Scholars
Associates:
Libby-Rose Niederer - semi-finalist Supreme Awards Group A, Katherine Sonnekus - semi-finalist Supreme Awards Group A
Katerina Hond - quarter-finalist Supreme Awards Group A, Thomas McClintock - quarter-finalist Supreme Awards Group A
Jana Baldovino - quarter-finalist Junior Scholars, Estelle Thomson - quarter-finalist Junior Scholars
Photo: Tynan Wood performing at the AHA Awards, March 2013. www.smileclick.co.nz
GRADUATES RETURN TO TEACH
Two of New Zealand's finest dancers Ursula Robb and Nadine Tyson are teaching at the New Zealand School of Dance this year.
Ursula Robb spent more than a decade in europe dancing with Rosas, Ultima Vez and Zoo. In 2011 she worked as rehearsal director with Paris Opera Ballet and danced with the New Zealand Dance Company in their first season.
Auckland dancer Nadine Tyson joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 1995. She danced many pivotal roles as a soloist during nine years with the RNZB and has recently been invited by the company to teach.
Both are graduates of the New Zealand School of Dance and have returned to join the school's faculty, teaching the current students in 2013.
Photos: Nadine Tyson (top), photographed by Bill Cooper. Ursula Robb (below).
Two New Zealand School of Dance students will join staff and students from seventeen other professional ballet schools at the Assemblée Internationale 2013 in Toronto. The festival running from 29 April – 5 May 2013, hosted by Canada's National Ballet School, is an intensive seven days of classes, performances, forums and professional development.
NZSD students Jarrah McArthur and Tynan Woods will perform Jeffrey Tan's Facade at the festival.
"The choreographer Jeffrey Tan, from Singapore, came to New Zealand for two weeks to rehearse his pas de deux with us." said Jarrah.
"Jeffrey is a wonderful teacher. He introduced us to new techniques and ideas, taking our partnering skills to a new level. Learning this difficult pas de deux made me realise that it's not only about the mechanics of each step, it's the expressions and deeper emotions that weave it all together."
Other performances at the AI13 festival will range from works representative of each school's culture, to student-created choreography with performances of blended casts from the various schools.
Photo: Tynan Wood and Jarrah McArthur rehearsing Jeffrey Tan's 'Facade'. Photographed by Celia Jenkins
THE CLASS OF 2012 
Dancers who trained at the New Zealand School of Dance in 2012 have secured places dancing with the following companies
Black Grace – Brydie Colquhoun
West Australian Ballet – Chloe Einicke and Mitchell Powell
Australian Dance Theatre – Samantha Hines and Matte Roffe
Royal New Zealand Ballet – Laura Jones
Douglas Wright – Simone Lapka
Singapore Dance Theatre – Jia Xi Lee and Luis Piva Junior
New Zealand Dance Company – Gareth Okan
Chunky Move – James Pham
Dancenorth – Andrew Searle
Houston Ballet II - Caue Frias
Other students from the class of 2012 have gone on to further training, including Napat Mathinanon who is studying for a degree in dance at Chulalongkorn University and Chris Gerty who has joined the San Francisco Ballet School's trainee programme.
Photo: Samantha Hines and Matte Roffe, now dancing with Australian Dance Theatre. Photographed by Stephen A'Court
PROGRAMMES FOR YOUNG DANCERS RE-LAUNCHED
The New Zealand School of Dance's role in nurturing New Zealand’s young dance talent has been highlighted with the re-launch of two aspirational programmes for school-aged dancers.
The Associates and Scholars programmes have developed out of the Junior Associates and Regional Associates programmes run by the school since 2000.
The Associates programme identifies ballet and contemporary dance students aged 13 - 16 who have an aptitude for a career in performance. A tiered structure sees students progressing through the programme as Junior, Intermediate and Senior Associates with Senior Associates joining the full-time students for an immersion week.
The Scholars programme takes classical ballet students from the age of 10 through a series of levels. Class sizes are small and the ballet training is supported by allied subjects such as body conditioning.
DARCEY BUSSELL
Darcey Bussell CBE, former Principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, London visited the New Zealand School of Dance in June 2012.
Darcey Bussell was guest of honour at the fundraising event A Gala Dinner with Darcey Bussell and held a coaching session with New Zealand School of Dance students
This once in a lifetime opportunity was presented by the Royal Academy of Dance and the New Zealand School of Dance. The gala dinner raised funds both for the RAD Genée International Ballet Competition (Wellington, December 2012) and the New Zealand School of Dance on its 45th anniversary in 2012.
Photo: Darcey Bussell coaching New Zealand School of Dance student Laura Jones.Photographed by Stephen A'Court.
PAUL TAYLOR AND 'Company B'
Former Paul Taylor Dance Company member Richard Chen See was guest tutor at the New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD) in 2011. Richard taught Paul Taylor's Company B to the students for the school's Graduation Season.
"Taylor stands amongst the pantheon of American dance giants.” Dance Magazine (USA)
Company B illuminates dominant social issues of the 1940s and the emotions surrounding them. It is danced to well-loved big band era tunes by the Andrews Sisters such as The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (of Company B), Pennsylvania Polka and Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh! Rather than incorporate the social dances of the era, Paul Taylor has injected their essence into his modernist choreography created in the early 90s. The bubbly music and dance rhythms contrast with themes of wartime loss creating a layering of moods, at times feel-good and melancholy.
"What other artist today makes poetic drama of such variety and eloquence? A Taylor season is a journey through one of the most singular and searching imaginations of our time.” New York Times
“What Taylor himself will bequeath as a legacy... is one of the richest and most creative collections of work in 20th-century dance. He came as a pioneer; he will leave as a master.” Dance Magazine
Richard Chen See’s visit to the New Zealand School of Dance was made possible with assistance from Fulbright New Zealand and the Embassy of the United States of America.
New York City Ballet soloist shares 
Balanchine magic
Diana White is a former soloist of New York City Ballet and an Associate of The George Balanchine Trust in New York.
She visited the New Zealand School of Dance in August 2011 to coach students in the Balanchine repertoire Emeralds for performance in the NZSD Graduation Season 2011.
Diana was interviewed on Radio New Zealand's Upbeat programme on 3 August 2011.
Photo: 2011 NZSD student Yvette Sauvage in Balanchine's 'Emeralds'. Photographed by Stephen A'Court.
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Tours of New Zealand School of Dance
The New Zealand School of Dance is a great place to visit for school or tour groups. Our students are highly motivated, vibrant, self-disciplined and are excellent role models.
Secondary school tours usually last around 45 minutes (shorter for younger students) and will often include observation of New Zealand School of Dance classes or rehearsals.
You may want to combine this with a tour of Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, or seeing one of our performances. There is no fee for tours but donations are welcome.
To arrange a tour email the Dance Administrator or phone 04 381 9226.