Two Wānaka dance students have been accepted for training at the New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD) in Wellington next year.

The teens, Isabel Martin (12 years) from Pointe Central and Hunter Cranfield (14 years) from Dance Out Loud, learned recently they would each be attending the school, travelling to Wellington for classes throughout the year.

“Students are chosen from all over New Zealand by audition, ensuring those with aptitude can take classes with similarly talented dancers,” Pointe Centrale’s ballet instructor Briony Martin said.

The selection process is competitive; the school trains between 25 and 30 ballet dancers in the Level 1-3 scholars programme and accepts between 20 and 25 dancers into the associates programme every year. This year 100 aspiring dancers auditioned for the associates programme alone. 

Isabel, who began dance classes when she was three-years-old, successfully auditioned for NZSD in 2020 and entered the ‘National Scholars’ programme for classical ballet this year as a level two scholar.  

She didn’t have to audition a second time; instead her progress at the school was assessed, and in November she learned she had retained her place in the programme, graduating to level three. 

She will travel to Wellington twice every school term to train.

For Hunter, though, it’s a new experience; he travelled to Christchurch in November to audition and earned a place as a junior associate majoring in contemporary dance.

He will travel to Wellington for tuition over four weekends during the year. 

Briony, a former professional ballerina, said the programmes “provide the best foundation on the path to becoming a professional dancer and for students aspiring to train full-time at the New Zealand School of Dance”. 

Selection criteria include achievements to date and potential, aptitude, performance quality, musicality and creativity; dancers also need to be both mentally and physically ready and strong enough to manage the training should they be accepted, she said. 

Dance Out Loud contemporary and jazz class teacher Nina Fischer said attending the NZSD was valuable work experience in a professional environment with like-minded and highly skilled peers. 

“Wanaka has a lot to offer but we are still a little town with not a lot of competition. Kids are used to train[ing] in a safe environment which is nice but doesn’t push them to the next level. Having a group of talented dancers from around the country in one class will encourage everybody to work a lot harder,” she said.

This is not the first time Wānaka dancers have auditioned successfully for NZSD; Zoe Frazer was a Junior Associate in 2019 and Persia Thor-Poet has just graduated from her second Year as a full-time contemporary dance student.

PHOTO: Supplied