Andy Ross
Header image: Scottish Ballet dancers in Sophie Laplane’s Dextera. Above, from top: Top three images show Scottish Ballet dancers in Sophie Laplane’s Dextera, photographed as part of Scottish Ballet’s Spring!. First Artist Kayla-Maree Tarantolo in Cayetano Soto’s Schachmatt. First Artist Rishan Benjamin in Cayetano Soto’s Schachmatt. Scottish Ballet dancers in Cayetano Soto’s Schachmatt as part of their earlier Twice-Born double bill.
Scottish Ballet will visit New Zealand for the first time in 50 years, teaming up with the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB). The two companies will present three Wellington-only performances on March 14 and 15, before travelling to Auckland for that city’s arts’ festival.
The Wellington programme sees Scottish Ballet perform two works unique to the company: Dextera (2019) by Sophie Laplane, commissioned to mark its 50th anniversary, described as a tour de force of creative ideas; and Schachmatt (Checkmate!) (2017) by Cayetano Soto, inspired by the words of Joan Rivers, the films of Pedro Almodovar, and the choreography of Bob Fosse.
The Royal New Zealand Ballet will perform Limerence by alumna Annaliese Macdonald, shown earlier as part of the Tutus on Tour programme, and a revival of Prismatic (2023) by Shaun James Kelly, inspired by Poul Gnatt and Russell Kerr’s influential Prismatic Variations (1960) and using the music of Brahms.
Scottish Ballet’s Auckland performance is A Street Car Named Desire.
There are a number of existing connections between the two companies. Scottish Ballet’s CEO and artistic director Christopher Hampson, CBE made three original works for the RNZB in the early 2000s (Saltarello, Romeo & Juliet, and Cinderella, in 2001, 2003 and 2007 respectively). RNZB resident choreographer Shaun James Kelly, meanwhile, is Scottish-born.
Scottish Ballet is funded by the Riaghaltas na h-Alba, the Scottish Government.
More details, including online booking, can be found at the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s website.
You may also like
