To begin the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s 70th birthday year, Tutus on Tour 2023 looks affectionately back at the RNZB’s early days, with performances in some of Aotearoa’s smaller cities and towns and loveliest historic theatres.
Patricia Barker has carefully curated a collection of works which encapsulate the history of ballet, and her desire to share treasures from the RNZB’s recent past, alongside works new and old that the dancers can’t wait to perform.
Le Papillon and After the Rain – made almost two centuries apart – both show the intimate magic of a couple dancing together, creating a miniature world in the spotlight onstage. ‘Nobody Takes Me Seriously’ from 2001’s landmark FrENZy is a toe-tapping solo to Tim Finn’s Kiwi classic and the chance for one of the company’s men to cut loose, with style.
The programme is completed with two works each for eight dancers: the New Zealand premiere of Brian Enos’ elegantly neo-classical Cold Winter’s Waiting (2013) and Greg Horsman’s classical showpiece Holberg Suite, created for Tutus on Tour in 2009 and now given a welcome revival.
