Festival of Colour: Ultra Violet / The Autumn Ball

Royal New Zealand Ballet

We welcome the Royal New Zealand Ballet back to the Festival with two brand new works.

Loughlan Prior choreographed Ultra Violet for a short season at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden early in 2020, but Covid put paid to the trip. So Wānaka gets to be the first audience anywhere to see this work exploring how birds and insects see at the ultraviolet end of the colour spectrum. Loughlan and composer Claire Cowan picture themselves as soaring birds or crawling insects, on a journey through the musical landscape to create and discover colours beyond the edges of our visible spectrum.

Sarah Foster-Sproull has choreographed for many dance companies in New Zealand and overseas. She was Creative NZ’s Choreographic Fellow for 2017-2019 and is Choreographer in Residence for RNZB. The festival has commissioned a new work from her which takes as its starting point the theme of mortality, and the autumn season of people’s lives. We will tell you more and share some rehearsal shots in February.

Be the first to see RNZB perform these new works by two of our most gifted choreographers.

Sponsors: Wanaka Hotel / Integrity Homes