Royal New Zealand Ballet Workshop

Last week, our Year 10 dance students were privileged to welcome Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) education teacher, Pagan Dorgan, along with musicians from the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra (APO) to their class to work alongside them in a workshop setting. Pagan is an experienced ballet and contemporary dancer who had been involved in dance education projects at The Royal Ballet in London’s Covent Garden before joining the RNZB. 

The workshop was based on the RNZB current production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and focussed on developing our students’ understanding of choreographic techniques and classical dance. Ms Dorgan put the students through their paces as they moved from warm up exercises through to a choreographed piece that gradually increased in complexity. It was a rare and fantastic opportunity to dance to live music, the APO adjusting their tempo to the pace of the students. 

The session finished with plenty of opportunity for our students to ask questions about the life of professional dancers and musicians. They were surprised to hear of the huge physical demands of a working day for ballet dancers. 

We thank the Royal New Zealand Ballet and Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra for spending time to work with, dance and accompany our students. It was greatly appreciated and the students really enjoyed and learnt a great deal from the experience.