The New Zealand School of Dance’s role in nurturing New Zealand’s young dance talent has been highlighted with the re-launch of two aspirational programmes for school-aged dancers.
The Associates and Scholars programmes have developed out of the Junior Associates and Regional Associates programmes run by the school since 2000.
The Associates programme identifies ballet and contemporary dance students aged 13 – 16 who have an aptitude for a career in performance. A tiered structure sees students progressing through the programme as Junior, Intermediate and Senior Associates with Senior Associates joining the full-time students for an immersion week.
The Scholars programme takes classical ballet students from the age of 10 through a series of levels. Class sizes are small and the ballet training is supported by allied subjects such as body conditioning.