Ty King-Wall finished his ballet career at the top, retiring from The Australian Ballet as a principal artist. By the time he stopped dancing in 2022 he had two young children, one born just weeks before his final performance. His wife, former TAB principal Amber Scott, made her farewell to the stage last year. 

King-Wall now had the family he craved and more precious time to devote to fatherhood but there was still a strong desire to stay deeply engaged with the art form that had given him so much.

When Royal New Zealand Ballet was seeking a new artistic director last year King-Wall’s name started to be murmured by ballet insiders. He looked to be a strong candidate and was. He was on the teaching faculty of The Australian Ballet School, from which he graduated as dux with honours before joining TAB in 2006. He ran a private coaching business with Scott, was the Dancers’ Director on the TAB Board and had a Bachelor of Arts in classical studies and psychology and a Masters in Arts and Cultural Management under his belt. 

Just as important as those tangible qualifications was his passionate attachment to the country of his birth, Aotearoa New Zealand. “If I was going to do a role like that, I could only do it in a place I felt I had a really strong connection to,” King-Wall said, sitting in the board room of RNZB’s Wellington headquarters where he is now six months into the job.

Now 37, King-Wall may not have run a company before but it’s easy to see why the RNZB Board has put its trust in him. His CV apart, King-Wall comes with personal, powerful investment in the country, its culture and RNZB’s place in that culture. There has been a long period of instability at RNZB – five artistic leaders in little more than a decade – and King-Wall’s combination of ballet credentials, intense commitment and thoughtful demeanour bodes well.    

It is 52 years since a New Zealander last held the artistic directorship of RNZB (Bryan Ashbridge had the job briefly in 1971). “No pressure!” says King-Wall with a laugh, then adds: “It’s a weight of responsibility you do feel and should feel. You feel that weight not just for the history of the company but also the people who are in your care now. Our people.”

King-Wall took up his new position in November 2023, taking over from acting artistic director David McAllister (previous incumbent Patricia Barker left the company in early 2023.) As it happens, McAllister was artistic director at King-Wall’s old company for most of the dancer’s career so was able to be a solid support and mentor to the neophyte AD. 

The crossover with McAllister was hugely helpful, King-Wall says. He also mentions that when he was TAB Dancers’ Director he learned a great deal from TAB Board chair Craig Dunn. “That was a real privilege.”

Again and again in our conversation King-Wall returns to his belief in the collaborative nature of his role. Yes, he has to lead, but as part of a team. He describes RNZB’s relatively new executive director Tobias Perkins as “an incredible partner for me … we’re both excited about the prospect of being able to build something together with the company”.

King-Wall wants to start purposefully but carefully. “Over the past decade there’s been a lot of change for various reasons. That can be destabilising for everyone. For many new teams there’s a temptation to prove yourself early. You need to resist making change for the sake of it. Change will happen naturally, organically. We want to make informed decisions.”

He is keen for the company’s 37 dancers to have a voice in the studio and to encourage a culture based on empathy, positivity and patience. “I believe in building dancers up not breaking them down. When you have confidence, when you’re calm, that’s when you really go for things and that’s where the interesting stuff happens. 

[The dancers] need to accept that it’s not always going to work. You have to take a risk. You can make mistakes, you can fall, and we will pick you up and support you. We’re all human. If you don’t go for it, if you’re not brave, you’ll never know what’s possible

“There are 37 individuals all at a different stage and different path in their life as well as careers. It matters getting to know them as people as well as dancers. I really believe in this group of dancers. I believe they can achieve great things both individually and collectively. So for me it’s making sure they have that belief in themselves. 

“[The dancers] need to accept that it’s not always going to work. You have to take a risk. You can make mistakes, you can fall, and we will pick you up and support you. We’re all human. If you don’t go for it, if you’re not brave, you’ll never know what’s possible.”

Concerns about the number of New Zealanders in the company seem to have faded since the days when rapid turnover and a small percentage of home-grown dancers had politicians weighing into the debate. King-Wall has the figures to hand. In 2013 RNZB had 33 dancers, 36 per cent of whom were New Zealanders or trained at the New Zealand School of Dance. This year, 48 per cent of dancers are New Zealanders or trained at the NZSD.

“It’s a favourable comparison,” says King-Wall, who highlights the important connection between RNZB and the NZSD. “We’re really committed to that relationship. It’s such an asset for us,” says King-Wall, describing long-serving NZSD director Gary Trinder as “a real support and mentor”. 

King-Wall acknowledges the reality of New Zealand being a long way from the greater dance world but says the company would like to give New Zealanders “a really compelling reason to stay, and if they do go, give them a really compelling reason to return”. The COVID-19 pandemic actually had an upside for RNZB, in that a number of dancers who had overseas careers returned home.

If King-Wall and Perkins can pull off their desire for an international tour that would be useful. “The last time we toured internationally was 2016. There’s a real appetite for that. It brings everyone together. Everyone really gets behind it. Tobias and I will have our work cut out to find an opportunity to do that but smaller organisations are more agile. To have an international presence we can think outside the box.” 

It may have been a while since the company was seen beyond its borders but RNZB is a truly national company, its reach shaming many a national company elsewhere. As well as performing three annual mainstage productions in the country’s larger cities it annually takes its Tutus on Tour program to as many as a dozen smaller centres.

The pioneering spirit runs through the company’s 70-year history. “We have always toured the length and breadth of this country, providing an opportunity to see ballet for those who can’t get to the bigger venues,” says King-Wall. “That accessibility and that outreach has always been part of what this company has done. I would like to credit our education program in particular – they’re doing a power of work in that area.” 

While the 2025 program won’t be unveiled for a few months King-Wall does talk about the need for balance between traditional and contemporary work. It’s the juggling act artistic directors the world over have to manage. He does reveal he’s instituting an annual choreographic season committed to showcasing the work of emerging dance-makers. It will start in a small way this year, with details to be announced soon. “We need to give those voices a chance to experiment and to fail. We can’t expect them to come from nowhere.”

One of the choreographers featured in the upcoming mainstage mixed bill Solace: Dance to feed your soul was discovered in just this way via the TAB development program Bodytorque. A new work by Alice Topp, an Australian who danced with RNZB in the early part of her career, will be seen in Solace alongside pieces by RNZB resident choreographer Sarah Foster-Sproull and British master Wayne McGregor. 

King-Wall’s arrival in November meant the 2024 season was programmed by McAllister. It’s one of those lovely quirks of fate that the year’s centrepiece, Russell Kerr’s 1996 production of Swan Lake, was the ballet that made King-Wall want to be a dancer. Not only that, his guest appearance in the 2013 revival “was one of the great highlights, if not the greatest highlight, in my career … it was such a full-circle moment”.

This time around he was able to ensure Swan Lake will be an equally memorable career highlight for other dancers. After the May 4 matinee in Wellington he took to the stage to promote senior artists Ana Gallardo Lobaina and Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson to principal after their performances as Odette/Odile and Siegfried. They were his first promotions. “It was a real joy to be able to recognise that talent, commitment and dedication. A real thrill.

King-Wall refers to his job as a great adventure and a great privilege. “It’s guardianship, custodianship. We’re all passing through. We need to be aware of what’s come before and respect that, and in everything we do be preparing for what’s to come after. You won’t be here forever, and need to make sure you leave the place in a really great state for the next person.” 

Swan Lake continues in Christchurch, May 23-26; Dunedin, May 30; and Invercargill, June 2. Solace opens in Wellington on August 1 and tours to Auckland and Christchurch.