A London-bound teenage ballerina will receive a home sendoff next week as the New Zealand Youth Ballet performs at Lake Wānaka Centre. Wānaka’s Isabel Martin, 17, will take a place at the English National Ballet School, in London, where she will continue training toward a career as a professional ballerina. Before she goes her Christchurch-based troupe the New Zealand Youth Ballet Co, will be putting on two performances of their Reverence & Rebellion programme on August 13 and 14 at Lake Wānaka Centre. Ahead of the two Wānaka shows, Isabel said she was looking forward to the “adventure”. “I’m really excited to be able to come home for this special performance. “Wānaka is home for me, and always will be — and while this may be my last performance locally for a while, I’m looking forward to a new adventure in London.” The Reverence & Rebellion programme will see Isabel perform a pas-de-deux with special guest Emilio Pavan, a former soloist with the English National Ballet, Bayerische Staatsoper in Germany and Queensland Ballet. In addition to Isabel and Pavan, the programme will feature several other dancers heading overseas for international training and competition. The programme will include a pas-de-quatre — a classical, plotless ballet piece created to showcase the unique technical skills of four famous Romantic-era ballerinas, and the Pas des Fleurs (Dance of the Flowers), a famous scene also known as Le Jardin Anime. There will also be a contemporary piece, The Noise vs The Voice, choreographed by Isabella D’Accione. In addition to the New Zealand Youth Ballet Co there will be performances from young local dancers from Centralpoint Dance Studios. Centralpoint Dance Studios is owned by Isabel’s mother and former ballerina Briony Martin, who helped bring the performance to Wānaka. “Audiences will definitely be in for a treat,” Mrs Martin said. “The New Zealand Youth Ballet Co is a supremely talented group of dancers who are already in full-time training and have spent many years, and thousands of hours, getting to this point before they commence their international training and continued further exposure. “Performances like this also provide our younger local dancers with a wonderful opportunity to work closely with the company, experience both the stage and backstage environments, and get a true taste of being part of a professional company.” ruairi.oshea@odt.co.nz
