What Next For The N.Z. Ballet?

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30901, 6 November 1965, Page 2

What Next For The N.Z. Ballet?

With its magnificent production of “Giselle,” the most testing of all the classics, the New Zealand Ballet can proudly say: “This is our finest hour.”

The 12-year-old company could now dance confidently with guest artists in many of the world’s big cities, where ballet shares status with opera and straight theatre and standards are high. It is certainly ready for a tour of Australia.

Still developing its talent, still maturing artistically and beginning to show a distinctive style, a company that is limited by the number of dancers it can select from and by a tight budget, the New Zealand Ballet is now consolidating its gains.

Tail and tears went into the foundations; courage and determination carried the company through its struggling years of building up. The challenges of the future will be met with assurance. Jean-Paul Comelin and Marilyn Burr, two international stars who have been the company’s guest artists for several months, have said the New Zealand Ballet could compete very favourably ■with the Royal Danish Ballet, London’s Festival Ballet and many other European companies, if it was given a little more subsidy and about 15 more dancers.

It is a company that can already attract world renowned artists to its stage, such as Svetlana Beriosova, Karl Musil and Alexander Grant—and delight them. Roads Ahead

So where does the New Zealand Ballet go from here? Several roads open up ahead. It could be suggested that the company should tour New Zealand all the year round at full strength. But as Alexander Grant has painted out, this would be quite impracticable in a country with so small a population. The New Zealand Ballet Trust must hold its hard-won

ground, not let it become eroded. A plan under consideration would divide the company into two units for touring provinciial areas and amalgamate them into a fullscale company for productions in the main centres. The present guest artists have suggested an overseas tour for the company and this is the trust’s long-term policy. Australia would be the obvious choice for the first venture.

“The time has come when the company must be given the challenge of facing an overseas audience,” the artistic director (Mr Russell Kerr) said yesterday. In the meantime he is concentrating on consolidating ables the company to sign up in his constant drive towards perfection. It is mainly Russell Kerr’s prestige overseas that enables the company to sign uj contracts with top guest stars, including the prima ballerina of the Royal Ballet. “Guest stars are important to any company. They stimulate the dancers and the audience,” Mr Kerr said. “The audience must always be made to feel part of the production, he added. Guest artists come, receive

the accolades and leave, lingering on as cherished memories. But the company must be kept going. Many of its own best dancers leave for overseas companies to widen their experience, perhaps to become stairs in another country. “We should never feel it is the end when a brilliant dancer, like John Trimmer, takes a year’s leave from the company to dance in Europe,” said the company’s executive director (Mrs Beatrice Ashton). “It’ is essential for good dancers to pit themselves against the challenge of Europe, the centre of the ballet world, to develop their potential.” Security At Home These dancers now have the security of a full-time professional company to return to at home. Some have already come back as guest artists, including the exciting character dancer, Terry Westmoreland. Jon Trimmer is expected back next year. Meanwhile the corps de ballet dancers move gracefully from strength to strength, through fatigue and disappointment, applause and criticism, emerging as soloists or staying behind in the ranks. These young dancers are the backbone of the company, which has now reached a peak of artistry in “Giselle” — a production that has been acclaimed as the greatest contribution so far to New Zealand theatrical arts.