BalletCollective Aotearoa Artistic Director & Producer Turid Revfeim is a graduate of the National Ballet School (now the New Zealand School of Dance). After touring with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, she headed to Europe where she spent 4 years as a soloist with the Theater der Stadt Koblenz in Germany & dancing at the prestigious Wagner Bayreuth Festival 1982-86.
Turid re-joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet as a soloist dancer in 1986. She completed a Bachelor of Arts while dancing with the company, and also worked as rehearsal assistant and stage manager for the Eric Languet Dance Company. The RNZB has performed four of her works; ‘Si Supieras’, ‘Three over Four’, 'Bernarda Alba’s House’ and ‘Kleines Requiem’.
After 20 yrs of performing professionally in a ballet company, Turid retired from dancing in 1999, becoming Artistic Co-ordinator with the RNZB. In 2003 she was appointed RNZB Ballet Mistress. Alongside directing project based BalletCollective Aotearoa she currently teaches classical ballet, repertoire and composition at the NZSD, and has been a trustee on various artistic boards. Turid is passionate about nurturing and producing kiwi talent and is a highly respected leader in the New Zealand dance community.
Organisation/Company
Name: BalletCollective Aotearoa
My Role: BalletCollective Aotearoa Artistic Director/Producer
Pōneke based BalletCollective Aotearoa (BCA)is a group of diverse individuals with a passion for dance in New Zealand. We collaborate to explore the possibilities of creating homegrown work in a contemporary ballet style. Our vision is to help develop pathways for emerging talent to step into the industry and hone their craft, mentored by those already established in their career. We look for ways to express our uniqueness here in Aotearoa New Zealand and explore ways of telling our own stories. We aspire to make ballet accessible and relevant to everyone.
Initiated in March 2020 we have not had a smooth ride but we have valued our collaborations with New Zealand artists, including the New Zealand String Quartet and NZTrio touring nationally as well as performing in both the Auckland and Dunedin Arts Festivals, during 2021/22.
Education is also an important part of our Kaupapa. In 2022 we launched our Subtle Dances Education Resource and have enjoyed creative residencies through the Ministry of Education’s Creatives in Schools initiative.
Iwi affiliation
Ngati Pakeha
Rohe
Ko Tauhara te maunga
Ko Waikato te awa
No Taupo nui-a-tia ahau
How I got where I am today
I grew up in Taupo, with my father a member of the local CAS
I learnt ballet in Taupo but travelled to Auckland for lessons my final years at secondary school
Trained at the National Ballet School (now NZ School of Dance)
Performed with the New Zealand Ballet on graduation
Employed as a dancer with the Koblenz Ballett in Germany for 5 years and at the Wagner Bayreuthe Festpiel for 5 years
Returned to the Royal New Zealand Ballet where I was a dancer for 13 years
On retiring from dance I became their Artistic Adminstrator/Co-ordinator
After 3 years I then became their Ballet Mistress for the next 11 years
I also choreographed a number of works on the RNZB dancers
I have served on the Board of Trustees of the NZ Dance Archive and the Dorothy Daniels Dance Foundation
I have written the published history of the NZ School of Dances at 50
I am currently a part-time tutor at the NZ SChool of Dance and
Artistic Director and Producer of the BalletCollective Aotearoa
Whānau
My husband is a former dancer with the Royal New Zealand Ballet and is now if Biodiversity Advisor with the Greater Wellington Regional Council
Subtle Dances
Artform: Dance
Development Status: Tour Ready (This work has already had two outings in its entirety plus a number of performances of individual works at various events. One work "Koolish Zein" is in development and has been performed but not fully produced with staging and costume.)
Pitch Video
Media Uploads
Trailer
Synopsis
This bespoke season, designed with regional centres and theatres at the heart of the process, can be presented live with NZTrio or to recordings of the season’s all-Kiwi musical scores. This is a stunning evening of contemporary ballet and homegrown music, accessible to all kiwi’s keen to experience high quality, live performance.
The performance programme is a Triple Bill of three homegrown. Auckland based Sarah Knox's beautiful work 'Last Time We Spoke' to music by Rhian Sheehan, New Plymouth born Cameron McMillans haunting work ‘Helix’ to the score by acclaimed John Psathas, explores ideas around homecoming. Sarah Knox’s ‘Last Time We Spoke’ to music by Rhian Sheehan is an emotively accessible exploration of the Covid-19 times that all of us have navigated – audiences and artists alike. Loughlan Prior’s titular work “Subtle Dances” is a fresh, nuanced contemporary ballet from one of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s brightest rising choreographer to the score of the same name by Claire Cowan.
In development is a series of dance works being created in collaboration with Naoto Sagawa. ‘Koolish Zein’ had an initial outing in Wellingtons Classical on Cuba in September 2023. This performance explored the relationship between dancers and musician using both structured improvisation and collaborative composition to a work by the prolific creative John Psathas. The dancers explored and imagined a space in time in the future, conveyed by the soundscape and extraordinary scope of the marimba.
The inaugural programme played to hugely enthusiastic audiences with reviews from the festival performances headed with quotes such as ‘Nothing short of a triumph’, ‘Whoops and Whistles of delight’, ‘Unequivocal joy and Strength of Technique’.
Additionally, we offer can a day of school/community workshops prior to the public event. School workshops will be given in person or via Zoom and we would work with students encourage to create and contribute their own work to be performed alongside the BCA dancers in the performance. The community workshops will be made up of a Pro-Barre workshop for local students and/or adults as well as a Meet & Greet Q & A session at the conclusion of each performance. This engagement reaches deep into the community and gives youth an opportunity to build creative and choreographic skills, as well as experience the joy of performing on a stage alongside professional level dancers.
Creative Team and Crew
Turid Revfeim - Artistc Director/Producer
Education Manager - Brigitte Knight
Artists and Dance Collaborators
Tabitha Dombroski
Bjorn Aslund
Callum Phipps
Zoe White
James Burchell
Alisha Warthen
Graduate Interns
Tessa Cockerton-Holmes
Rilee Scott
Crew - Eventsuite
Alan Wilson - Lighting
Janina Panizza - Stage management
Elisha Ward - Costumes & Wardrobe
Musicians if using live music
NZTrio
Naoto Sagawa
Number of People in the Touring Party
10 persons or up to 13 persons if live using music
Previous Seasons
Auckland Arts Festival
Dunedin Arts Festival
Reviews and Quotes
Theatreview – Jennifer Shennan
The work explores and explodes with themes of gender blurring—swirls of hot tango as the boys and girls and boys come out to play. It is saucy, spicy, dark and compelling. Complex courtships, allusion alternating with illusion, remind us of nature’s best dancers. It invites searing performances from all the cast, and confirms this BalletCollective Aotearea as a troupe of striking dance talent,
Theatreview – Ian Lochhead
By creating opportunities for the art of ballet to flourish in a way that reflects local experience and cultural aspirations we will, perhaps, find out something new about ourselves, something no one had counted on.
At its conclusion, Subtle Dances was greeted with whoops and whistles of delight from the large Dunedin audience. A teenager behind me who pronounced before the show, ‘I hate ballet’, was clearly won over; ‘This is pretty cool’ he commented after only a few minutes of Subtle Dances. He is absolutely right!
Theatreview – Jenny Stevenson
The company is a delight to watch throughout the evening. There is a freshness to their dancing and the unequivocal joy and strength of technique that they bring to their performances is inspiring.
Technical Rider & International Touring Info (if applicable)
- View/download document #1 here
The Performing Arts Network of New Zealand (PANNZ) Arts Market is New Zealand's premiere event for artists, producers, presenters and industry leaders from across the performing arts sector.
The Performing Arts Network of New Zealand (PANNZ) Arts Market is New Zealand's premiere event for artists, producers, presenters and industry leaders from across the performing arts sector.
The Performing Arts Network of New Zealand (PANNZ) Arts Market is New Zealand's premiere event for artists, producers, presenters and industry leaders from across the performing arts sector.
The Performing Arts Network of New Zealand (PANNZ) Arts Market is New Zealand's premiere event for artists, producers, presenters and industry leaders from across the performing arts sector.