Western News: October 22, 2019

11 Tuesday October 22 2019
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
WESTERN NEWS
News
Advice for
speaking up
at hearing
• By Georgia O’Connor-Harding
A WORKSHOP will be held next
month to help residents speaking
at a major hearing over plans to
open a controversial quarry in
Templeton.
It will be run by retired resource
management consultant and
Deans Avenue Precinct Society
chairwoman Claire Mulcock and
is aiming to help residents who
aren’t used to speaking in public.
It comes as the hearing over
Fulton Hogan’s resource application
to open a 170ha quarry at
Curraghs, Dawsons, Jones and
Maddisons Rd begins on November
18.
Templeton Residents’ Association
secretary Mel Himin said the
aim of the workshop is to upskill
and predominantly give residents
confidence as the hearings process
can be “overwhelming.”
The workshop will cover making
verbal submissions at the
hearing, what to do and the processes
involved in a hearing.
The “Speaking at the hearing”
workshop will be held November
7.
•For more information and
to register your interest email
Jolene.eagar@xtra.co.nz
Ballet apprentice back home for production
• By Georgia O’Connor-Harding
WHEN CALUM Gray was
a teenager, he never thought
he would one day dance for a
national ballet company.
But a whirlwind year as a
Royal New Zealand Ballet apprentice
has
brought the
now 21-yearold,
one step
closer to
his dreams
of leading
a career as
a full-time
Calum Gray
professional
ballet dancer.
Now, the upcoming
dancer, who grew up in
Riccarton, will return to the city
next month as part of the Royal
New Zealand Ballet’s production
of Hansel & Gretel.
Alongside Gray, fellow apprentice
Teagan Tank, formerly
of Redwood, will also return to
the city for the production.
Gray will form the corps de
ballet playing the role of one of
the witches’ gingerbread men.
Based in Wellington, Gray, a
former Anneliese Gilberd Academy
dancer, said he is excited to
be travelling back to the city.
“I can never pinpoint why –
there is something about the city
I like,” he said.
Gray has described the past
year with RNZB as “refreshing”
after training with the New Zealand
School of Dance for three
years before graduating with a
classical major.
“It motivates me to want to
keep pursuing this and keep
progressing,” he said.
While Gray has spent a lot of
the year watching and learning
from the other full-time
dancers, he has had the opportunity
to perform in each of the
RNZB’s national productions
this year.
This includes Bold Moves,
Black Swan, White Swan and
Tutus on Tour 2019.
“I never expected to get into
the RNZB or knew where dancing
would take me but I am
truly grateful to keep dancing
and to work with the RNZB.”
He said one of the biggest
transitions moving from the
New Zealand School of Dance to
the RNZB is managing his dayto-day
physical routine outside
of his six-hour weekday rehearsals
with the company.
“You have to keep yourself
physically in shape . . . in the
company you are expected to
look after yourself more,” Gray
said.
He first started training in
ballet at the age of eight before
realising he wanted to dance
professionally at the age of 14.
Gray said he would like to
encourage more people to dance
in general – but particularly for
other boys his hope is they will
try a range of physical sports
DREAM JOB:
Former Riccarton
dancer Calum
Gray has had a
whirlwind year
as a Royal New
Zealand Ballet
apprentice. ​
from a young age.
Gray said while he did get
picked on for doing ballet when
he was younger – it never came
from a place of malice.
“These young kids just didn’t
really understand what I was
doing.
“By the time I took up
full-time training the majority
of people who knew me knew
what I did and had a lot of
respect for me for moving away
from home . . . they were almost
envious I had something I
wanted to do.”
•Hansel &Gretel runs at
the Isaac Theatre Royal
from November 21-23. To
book tickets go to https://
isaactheatreroyal.co.nz
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