The 'hard hard' ballet examiner who inspired a Christchurch dance company
Monday, 8 December 2025
In the mid 20th century, ballet examiners from London would travel to New Zealand once every couple of years to assess the country’s dancers, and one intimidating assessor managed to leave these shores having inspired a new dance company.
Southern Ballet, founded in Christchurch by Lorraine Peters QSM, staged its first show, Giselle, in 1975, after that stern English woman - who had travelled the country failing would-be dancers - awarded her small group of dance students high marks.
“She'd been from the top of the North Island and she'd got down to Christchurch, and she failed nearly everybody,” Peters - now 89 years old - recalls.
“She was just a hard, hard, lady and she got to me and gave me four honours in one morning.”
Inspired by her vote of confidence, Peters moved to establish Southern Ballet.
In 1975 they performed Giselle and 50 years later the school’s dancers will be on stage at the Isaac Theatre Royal on Saturday for a special anniversary gala as they celebrate Southern Ballet’s milestone half century.
Under its current artistic director, Katie Hurst-Saxton, the school has around 300 students, aged from 3 to in their 70s. Those over 50 attend the school’s Senior Swans class.
Dancers come from all over Christchurch to the school’s Carlyle St base in Sydenham, travelling from as far away as Rolleston and Lyttelton to attend lessons. Many of its young people have trained at Southern Ballet for most of their lives, with those who started as toddlers in the wake of the Canterbury earthquakes now reaching adulthood.
Not limited to ballet, the school offers a range of classes including jazz and contemporary dance.
Hurst-Saxton, who became the youngest dancer to perform with the Royal New Zealand Ballet when she was invited to participate as a student extra in Russell Kerr’s Swan Lake at just 16 years old, has been at the helm for 18 months.
Originally from Christchurch, she says it is “such an honour” to be leading the school.
“I've always paid attention to what Southern Ballet did, even when I was little. I’ve always watched their shows. So I’ve kind of grown up with Southern Ballet and my mum [Lynda Saxton] was actually trained by Lorraine Peters back in the day.”
Her dancers will perform The Nutcracker on Saturday - an ideal choice she says, for a milestone celebration.
“It's one of those ballets that everyone knows, even if they have no idea about ballet,” she says.
In addition to the classic ballet, which includes “something for everyone”, ticket holders will also experience a modern dance, Light It Up, a “fun and funky” piece, “that also goes on a life journey,” Hurst-Saxton says.
Over the decades the school has produced acclaimed dancers, with patron Fiona Tonkin OAM - a world renowned now retired ballerina - amongst its alumni.
It had a brief hiatus after the 2011 earthquake, which marked the end of their time at the Christchurch Arts Centre. Two months after February 22 they were open again on Carlyle St, with Peters’ late husband Cliff Cox fixing the ballet bars in place to get their new base dance ready.
Peters - who stopped teaching in her 70s - will sit in the Isaac Theatre Royal - a traditional performance space for Southern Ballet - later this week to watch the school’s latest generation of dancers perform.
“We did have wonderful help,” Peters reflects, crediting the creative input of the likes of co-founder Gillian Francis, who alongside David Peake and George Williams was integral to the school’s beginnings.
“I've done ballet all my life, and I just absolutely loved my students. They came before anything.”
Southern Ballet’s 50th Anniversary Gala is at the Isaac Theatre Royal on Saturday December 13. Tickets for two shows - a matinee and evening performance - are available via Ticketek and the theatre box office.
The ballet school is open to anyone who is keen to dance. Call 03 379 7219 or email office@southernballet.co.nz for more information.