ROYAL NEW ZEALAND BALLET 2022 SEASON

STARS, SWANS AND CINDERELLA – ROYAL NEW ZEALAND BALLET POISED FOR A SWEEPING 2022 SEASON

Dancers from Royal New Zealand Ballet in “ The Ground Beneath Our Feet” in 2019, Wellington Opera House.

“Rounding out this generous programme of dance is RNZB Choreographer Shaun James Kelly’s The Ground Beneath Our Feet (2019), an exuberant ballet, tailor-made for the RNZB, that rides the scintillating rhythms of its music like a rollercoaster.”

Timely production for multiple reasons - The Soldiers Tale 2021 NZSO

‘Shaun James Kelly’s choreography responds to the angularity of the music and fully exploits the limited opportunities that the work offers for dance, although the presence of musicians on stage constrains the possibility for more expansive movement.  Leonora Voigtlander as the Princess projects both the innocence as well as the insistence the role requires as she persuades the Soldier to seek out his mother, only to disappear for good.’

Review by Dr Ian Lochhead

Kāpiti and Coast Independent The Soldier’s Tale — ‘Sublime’ Says Ralph McAllister

“Add to that the contribution from the Royal New Zealand Ballet whose young dancers leave you breathless as they perform sublimely on a sixpence, or is it a farthing of a space . Choreographer in Residence Shaun James Kelly deserves a medal of his own for his faith and demands on his dancers Leonora Voigtlander and Jamie Delmonte.”

Review by Ralph McAllister, 25 Feb 2021

Love and greed at heart of tale - The Solider’s Tale

‘Working with RNZB choreographer in residence Shaun James Kelly has been a great meeting of minds, she says.

"I’m not as specialised as he is with classical ballet, but we see things the same way. We often open our mouths to say the same thing at the same time on the rehearsal floor."

Kelly says he has taken inspiration from the music

"I like an audience to feel the music and movement moving together and I had such fun pairing my choreographic style with this wonderful Stravinsky score, played so powerfully by the NZSO."

Brodie says with all the different skill sets involved, each contributes and learns a bit of the others’ language.’

Rebecca Fox, 25 Feb 2021

Symphony Orchestra and Royal Ballet join forces in ode to Stravinsky

‘When Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale first opened in 1918, its tour was cut short by the outbreak of influenza. 

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Royal New Zealand Ballet will have their fingers crossed for a different outcome this year, as they present this classic tale of magic, desire, and being careful what you wish for.

Conducted by Hamish McKeich, directed by Sara Brodie, and choreographed by Shaun James Kelly, Setting Up Camp – The Soldier’s Tale opens in Kāpiti this week.

Based on a Russian folk tale, this pocket-sized theatre piece tells the story of the titular soldier who makes a deal with the Devil: in exchange for the soldier’s magic violin, the Devil will grant his every wish.’

Kate Green, 23 Feb 2021

NZSO and RNZB start tour of The Soldier's Tale in Kāpiti

"To now have the staging as well, with top director Sara Brodie, and Shaun James Kelly from the RNZB, is a dream come true."

RNZB choreographer in residence Shaun James Kelly said, "As a choreographer, I take huge inspiration from the music. I like an audience to feel the music and movement moving together and I had such fun pairing my choreographic style with this wonderful Stravinsky score, played so powerfully by the NZSO.

"With many varieties of musical influences — such as tango, waltz and ragtime — it gave me a great opportunity to tell this story of the new lovers, ultimately creating a light-hearted and contemporary spin on classical ballet."

Kapiti News, 4 Feb 2021

Dance Informa Magazine

New Zealand Dance News – February 2021

“The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO)/Te Tira Pūoro o Aotearoa joins forces with the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) to perform Igor Stravinsky’s mesmerising “pocket theatre” experience, The Soldier’s Tale, around the country from 24 February. The production features a talented ensemble of NZSO musicians, RNZB dancers and actors, who bring the great Russian-born composer’s riveting and timeless work to 13 centres. In February and March, The Soldier’s Tale will be performed in the Greater Wellington region and the South Island. The North Shore, Manukau, Kerikeri and Whangarei will have performances in June. Written during the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic, Stravinsky designed The Soldier’s Tale to be easily toured and performed in even small locations. He included speech, mime and dance beside music written for a distinctive assortment of instruments and inspired by popular music of the period, including tango and ragtime. This production will be directed by Sara Brodie, an accomplished director and choreographer in New Zealand and overseas. Her work spans multiple disciplines, including theatre, dance, opera and interdisciplinary productions. RNZB Choreographer in Residence Shaun James Kelly says, “As a choreographer, I take huge inspiration from the music. I like an audience to feel the music and movement moving together, and I had such fun pairing my choreographic style with this wonderful Stravinsky score, played so powerfully by the NZSO. With many varieties of musical influences – such as tango, waltz and ragtime – it gave me a great opportunity to tell this story of the new lovers, ultimately creating a light-hearted and contemporary spin on classical ballet.”

For tickets and more information, visit

www.nzso.co.nz/concerts-and-tickets/season-2021/setting-up-camp-the-soldiers-tale.”

Laura Di Orio, Feb 2021

Royal New Zealand Ballet's Contemporary Series

Dancer: Allister Madin Photo Credit: Stephen A’Court

Dancer: Mayu Tanigaito Photo Credit: Stephen A’Court

Dancers: Paul Mathews and Madeleine Graham Photo Credit: Stephen A’Court

“The joyous energy and inventive steps of Shaun James Kelly's The Ground Beneath our Feet, was thus doubly welcome.

Performed to a Bach violin concerto, electronically modified by fellow dancer Massimo Margaria, the work allows the company's dancers to show off their well-honed skills and individual strengths. Kelly's is a talent to be carefully nurtured.”

Review by Ian Lochhead, 10 March 2019

Stuff NZ

“The stand-out of the evening is The Ground Beneath our Feet by Kelly. It is a well-crafted and playful work. The dancers, who are uniformly superb, obviously relish the challenges thrown at them as they push the classical technique to an edge that is dynamic and enjoyable to watch. The costumes are bright and enhance the sense of dancers being beams of light sliding in and out of vision.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/111019076/artemis-rising-reinforces-retiring-rnzb-dancer-abigail-boyles-status-as-goddess-of-the-stage

Reviewed by Lyne Pringle

The Ground Beneath Our Feet

“But the long-awaited awe, classical majesty and exhilarating choreography of attending an evening of ballet, and one also befitting of an internationally renowned ballet company, belongs to The ground beneath our feet by Shaun James Kelly. Kelly joined the Company as a dancer from the UK in 2014, and is currently the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Choreographer in Residence. With vivid structure, exciting and unrelenting momentum, the tenfold ensemble soar to lofty heights, dynamically displaying what they love and know best to a reworked version of J.S. Bach’s Violin Concerto, providing balletic exhilaration, technical intensity, and spell-binding brilliance. The audience receives Kelly’s work with riotous applause.”

Review by Greer Robertson, 2 Mar 2019