Dancer for Ballet

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 19

Dancer for Ballet

The offer to join the Royal New Zealand Ballet came at just the right time for a Christchurch dancer, Julie Gare. With only a slim chance of being paid if she stayed at the Southern Ballet in Christchurch., where she has danced full-time for the last four years, she jumped at the opportunity. The place in New Zealand’s national company is a dream come true for the 20-year-old who has wanted to dance ever since she could remember. She began lessons when she was 10 — “Mum wouldn’t let me start before that. She didn’t like the competitions and the stage mums but I found a teacher who wasn’t like that.” The teacher was David Peake, who taught privately at Halswell and with Southern Ballet. At first it was one lesson a week and then more

when she went to the Southern Ballet in Christchurch’s Arts Centre for lessons and examinations. At 15 she auditioned for the Southern company and was accepted. In the four years she has been with the company — she spent 1984 in Australia — she has progressed to principal roles. Oddly enough it is the chorus roles she is looking forward to when she joins the national company.

Her contract with the company begins in April but classes begin this month in Wellington. “I’m looking forward to concentrating on my technique. At Southern I danced principal roles when I was still quite young.” While she enjoyed the challenge of the roles, she did not enjoy the pressure. The invitation to join the national company came as a result of the young dancer’s persistence. Although the com-

pany did not hold any formal auditions this year, she made repeated visits to its Wellington headquarters. Company officials gave her the good news when the “Swan Lake” tour brought the company to Christchurch in early December.

Julie Gare is grateful to the Southern Ballet for its grounding. The small Christchurch company provided a professional atmosphere for dancers as well as top training. One aspect she enjoyed was the company’s schools programme which took dancers out into small country schools.

“Teachers were amazed. The children loved it. It was hard work and we went out into the wop-wops, but it was worth it when the children sat for an hour enthralled."

Because of problems with funding, the company may have to curtail its schools programme

and the professional wage it offers dancers.

The dancers’ wages have been met through two separate six month long P.E.P. schemes. For the remainder of the time the dancers have danced for love. “That is the hardest thing to explain to other people. That this is a small company where the dancers have danced for the love of dancing. And that it is a company which achieves a professional standard. In Australia they say ‘Southern Ballet, what is that?’ ”

Julie Gare’s recent trip to Australia was to audition for the Australian Ballet Company where two former Southern Ballet dancers, Fiona Tonkin and Glen Harris, are dancers. That audition did not bring a job offer. After some time with the New Zealand company Miss Gare would like to try again in Australia.