Winter’s Saga Show Fundraiser

Wellington Community Ballet Theatre was established to provide performance opportunities for adult non-professional dancers. It is community theatre for dancers.

Following the success of our first show “Four Questions” at the Fringe Festival in March, we are creating our first standalone show “Winter’s Saga”, which will show at the Hannah Playhouse 18-23 August 2026. 

Winter’s Saga brings Norse mythology to the stage. Blending contemporary dance and physical theatre, Winter’s Saga follows the legendary paths of Loki, Odin and Thor beneath the branches of mighty Yggdrasil.

Welly Ballet is proud to support emerging artists through our projects.

We’re excited to have three of our original choreographers join us again for our next show - Trinity Maydon, Joana Joy and Kate Avery. We’re also pleased to introduce James Burchell for the first time. Wellington Community Ballet Theatre is proud to support local artists in the early stages of their careers. Sacha Copland (Java Dance Theatre) is supporting our choreographers as mentor again.

We’re also excited to have Ella Malcolm on costumes, Lucas Zaner on lighting and sound, Miho Aragane on set design and Sherise Ho on props design. Anna McBride will be composing some beautiful music for us again to sit alongside other contemporary tracks. The creative team is busy dreaming up a Norse fantasy world that we’re sure you’ll all love.

The show is Produced by Shereen Capper. We have a cast of 25 amazing dancers: Niko Walford, Chielin Xu, Casey Tearle, Charlotte Kaler, Dorien Slemons, Karen Lau, Dan Harvey, Ella Hight, Yulan Black, Betsy Quero, Margaret Hill, Kharis Jeffery, Dylan Nicholson, Eleanor Harwood, Louise Kotze, Anna Sheffield, Amelie Moriarty, Nancy de Bueger, Miriane Mottin Rutledge, Becky Young, Summer Humble, Natalie Welch, Rachael Wiltshire, Iana Popii.

Funding will be used to pay for costume materials and set pieces, and will go back into the Wellington economy by purchasing materials from local businesses.

Costumes: $1,000 ($40 per cast member for layers and items to add to a base layer)

Set: $800 (including lantern material for the base of the Yggdrasil tree and sheer fabrics to create a large number of leaves for the tree)

Props: $200 (including paints and materials like wood for creating weapons including Thor’s hammer and fake rocks)

We are creating a production “Winter’s Saga” based on Norse mythology, to show at the Hannah Playhouse 18-23 August 2026. Creating a show includes all original choreography currently being explored and rehearsed with our choreographers and cast of dancers. It includes creating all set elements, props, costumes and lighting and sound design. A lot of time and hard work and love is going into making this show.

Enabling us to create the beautiful world of Norse mythology under the Yggdrasil tree will make our show a special experience for the cast, crew and audience. The materials will allow our creative team to show off their skills, which is important for emerging artists. Having a beautiful, properly funded production will make the experience special for our cast on stage. It will help audiences feel that they are transported to another world and give them the joy and excitement of the theatre.