Native New Zealander Ty King-Wall will return home as the newly-appointed Artistic Director of Royal New Zealand Ballet.
King-Wall will move from Melbourne, where he is currently the Dancers’ Director on the Board of The Australian Ballet as well as a teacher with The Australian Ballet School, to Wellington and begin his new position in mid-November.
Ty King-Wall Brings Decades of Experience to RNZB
As a young dancer, Ty King-Wall rained at Tauranga’s Dance Education Centre and as a Junior Associate with the New Zealand School of Dance. He won the 2002 PACANZ National Young Performer Award before leaving Aotearoa New Zealand to study at The Australian Ballet School, where he graduated Dux with Honours.
Later, he went on to won several prestigious dance awards including the silver medal at the 2005 Asia Pacific International Ballet Competition and the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award in 2010.
“The appointment of Ty alongside our recent announcement of Tobias Perkins as Executive Director completes and secures our senior leadership team. It is a ballet ‘brains trust’ of strong arts leaders who have industry virtuosity, global views but local understanding, and with the broad minds and big hearts to guide New Zealand’s national ballet company in its forward trajectory and into the future.” – RNZB Chair Dame Kerry Prendergast
Throughout his 17-year dance career during which he performed with The Australian Ballet (2006-2022), as Principal Guest Artist with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and with Houston Ballet, Ty King-Wall danced featured roles including:
- Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty
- Prince in The Nutcracker
- Prince in Cinderella
- Franz in Coppélia
- Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly
- Lensky in Onegin
- Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake
- James in La Sylphide
- Oberon in The Dream
- Basilio in Don Quixote
- Solor in La Bayadere
- Jack/the Knave in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
- Danilo in The Merry Widow
- Albrecht in Giselle
- Vronsky in Anna Karenina
Along with his stage credits, Ty King-Wall also brings with him to RNZB a wealth of teaching experience. He has taught or New Zealand School of Dance, National Theatre Ballet School, and the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, and is the Founding Director of Tailored Ballet Coaching, a Melbourne-based ballet coaching clinic.
His academic accolades include a Bachelor of Arts (Classical Studies/Psychology) through Massey University and a Master of Arts and Cultural Management through the University of Melbourne, for which he conducted Minor Thesis research on the career demographics and retirement motivations of professional ballet dancers.
RNZB Executive Director Tobias Perkins says, “The vision and energy Ty will bring to this role is utterly compelling and I am confident that under his leadership the company can look forward to a sustained period of artistic excellence. I very much look forward to working in partnership with Ty to realise his artistic vision for the company to the benefit of audiences across Aotearoa New Zealand.”
“Huge congratulations to Ty. He has always been a passionate New Zealander and a fantastic artist, teacher, and advocate for our artform. I am sure he will be a devoted and inspiring leader for the RNZB and, along with Executive Director Tobias Perkins, will usher in an exciting future for the company.” – RNZB Acting Artistic Director David McAllister.
Featured Photo of newly-appointed Artistic Director of Royal New Zealand Ballet Ty King-Wall. Photo © Erik Sawaya.
