Ty King-Wall

Ty King-Wall
Born	1986 Waihi, New Zealand
Occupation	Artistic Director
Employer	Royal New Zealand Ballet
Spouse	Amber Scott
Children	2

Ty King-Wall is a New Zealand ballet dancer, an ex principal dancer with The Australian Ballet and current Artistic Director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Dance career

King-Wall was born in Waihi, New Zealand.[1] He started dancing aged seven and trained at the Dance Education Centre, Tauranga.[2] He was a Junior Associate of the New Zealand School of Dance before joining the Australian Ballet School at the age of 16.[1]

After graduating Dux with Honours he joined The Australian Ballet in 2006 becoming soloist in 2010, senior artist in 2011 and principal artist in 2013.[3] King-Wall won the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award in 2010.[2] He retired from dancing in 2022, became the Dancers' Director on the Board of the Australian Ballet and a classical teacher at the Australian Ballet School.[2] Whilst dancing he also earned a Bachelor of Arts from Massey University in Classical Studies and Psychology, and holds a Master of Arts (distinction) from the University of Melbourne in Arts and Cultural Management.[2][4]

In 2023, King-Wall was appointed the Artistic Director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.[2][5]

He is married to Amber Scott, also an ex principal dancer with the Australian Ballet. They have two daughters.[6]

Selected repertoire

• Ceyx in Tim Harbour's Halcyon (2006) (Harbour created the role on King-Wall)[3]
• Prince Florimund in Stanton Welch's The Sleeping Beauty (2009)[3]
• Scuola di Basllo Alexei Ratmansky (2009)[3]
• The Prince in Peter Wright's The Nutcracker (2010)[3]
• Octavian in Graeme Murphy's The Silver Rose (2010)[3]
• Lensky in John Cranko's Onegin (2012)[3]
• Prince Siegfried in Stephen Baynes' Swan Lake (2012)[3]
• Principal Man in Harald Lander's Études (2012)[3]
• Basilio in Rudolf Nureyev's Don Quixote (2013)[3]
• Solor in Stanton Welch's La Bayadère (2014)[3]
• Albrecht in Maina Gielgud's Giselle (2015)[3]
• Prince Dēsirē in David McAllister's Sleeping Beauty (2015)[3]
• Knave in Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (2017)[3]
• Crassus in Lucas Jervies' Spartacus (2018)[3]
• Vronsky in Yuri Possokhov Anna Karenina (2022)[3]

Dance awards

• PACANZ Young Performer of the Year Award, 2002[7]
• Silver Medal, Asia Pacific International Ballet Competition, 2005[3]
• Lissa Black scholarship, 2009[3]
• Telstra Ballet Dancer Award, 2010 (also nominee in 2008)[3]

References

1. Dow, Steve (6 April 2013). "Arise, ballet's youngest principal star". The Sydney Morning Herald.
2. "Ty King-Wall appointed director of the Royal NZ Ballet -". Dance Australia. 18 September 2023.
3. "Ty King-Wall". The Australian Ballet. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
4. Lois, Leila (20 October 2023). "The Royal New Zealand Ballet Welcomes Ty King-Wall as Its New Artistic Director". Pointe Magazine.
5. Lois, Leila (20 October 2023). "The Royal New Zealand Ballet Welcomes Ty King-Wall as Its New Artistic Director". Pointe Magazine.
6. "How ballerina Amber Scott's keeps her balance between pirouettes and parenting". Sydney Morning Harald. 1 December 2019.
7. "Past Winners". PACANZ. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017.