Thirty-six dancers and technicians from New Zealand made their way to Fiji for the first ever performance given in Fiji by a full ballet company.
According to The Fiji Times of Monday March 10, 1980, the New Zealand Ballet Company was to stage three performances in Suva the following August as part of its first overseas tour.
The company was flown to Suva under an arrangement the company had made with Air Pacific.
Performers included an internationally acclaimed Russian ballerina, Galina Samsova, who went on to become the artistic director for Scottish Ballet, and premier dancer Malcolm Burn.
Up to 200 supporters were to accompany the tour, according to the company’s projects director, Bob Jones.
“We intend this to be an annual visit so long as we can cover the direct costs,” Mr Jones said.
The first performance was to be on August 7 and all three performances were to feature the work of the Russian choreographer Andre Prokovsky, and a classical work that had not been decided prior to the announcement.
Apart from performances given by some dancers at Expo 1970, a world’s fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture in Japan, the company had not been outside New Zealand before, making this visit to Fiji a milestone for the company.
The New Zealand Ballet Company was founded on June 30, 1953, and funded by the New Zealand Government as a state company at a cost of more than $1 million a year at the time of their Fijian performances.
Several years later, in 1984, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II granted the title Royal to the company.
The Fiji tour was filmed by Television New Zealand.
