Name: Rowan Cann

Occupation: Dancer
Rowan Cann is one of 32 dancers with the Royal New Zealand Ballet Company. He is from Auckland but trained in Australia to become a professional dancer. Find out more about him on this page.

How did you get into ballet?
From Ally

Mum was a ballet teacher.

I saw a ballet demonstration on television and it looks really hard. What kind of stuff did you have to do to get to your level?
From Marie

Training as a child. And then three years full-time training.

I’m really interested in ballet and I would like to start, but I’m a boy so I was wondering if there are many male dancers in ballet?
From Timon

The Royal New Zealand ballet has 16 males and 15 females so it’s all equal.

I love the pretty costumes that you get to wear when you are performing! Do you get to changes your outfits for the theme of each show? What issues have you had with costumes?
From Emily

Some ballets we have five or six costume changes for different scenes. I have mislaid and forgotten to position costumes for changes.

Wow, it must be cool to be a professional dancer, but I have to ask, what is your favourite part of performing?
From Julianne

Making the audience enjoy the show.

What’s the worst thing that ever happened to you while performing?
From Liam

I broke my ankle.

How do you prepare for a performance on stage?
From Caleb

I do a warm up and then make-up and costume and go over some of the steps.

Is there much of a difference between a modern ballet like The Wedding and a classical ballet like Swan Lake.
From Michaela

Swan Lake is pure classical ballet whereas the The Wedding is contemporary (modern) with a classical base.

What is different from doing a show here in New Zealand compared to performing overseas?
From Hine

Nothing really.

What do you do when your muscles ache and you want to give up? What keeps you going?
From Phillippa

They ache all the time. I keep going because I can’t dream of doing anything else.

If there was one thing you could say to all the kids who want to do ballet what would it be?
From Natalie

Dance to enjoy yourself because if you enjoy yourself you are happy in life.

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