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Clemency van Rij, a student of Canterbury Ballet, has won her self an opportunity of a lifetime !! After an intense audition process Clemency was selected as one of the orphans in the Broadway Musical “Annie” which will be staged by an International Company and cast of principals in Wellington and Auckland. Rehearsals are well underway with opening night on the 23rd of May.

Clemency is one of 40 girls chosen from over 600 from throughout New Zealand; half of which will make up the two casts in Wellington and two in Auckland. The show was also hoping to come to Christchurch but due to the lack of available theatres it was unable to, hence why we made the trip to audition in Wellington and give Clemency some insight into the world of dance.

For more information about the musical head over to anniethemusical.co.nz
The first audition was a gruelling dance routine which had to be picked up perfectly after four practices of increasing speed and was then performed to a panel of international judges. Most students had a strong background in jazz but the discipline of ballet and Taisia’s training allowed Clemency to slip seamlessly into this style of dance even much to her own surprise.

The demanding final audition involved being taught more dances with longer and more challenging routines as well as singing and acting sometimes at the same time all the while maintaining an american accent.

We, along with Clemency, are just so grateful to Taisia and Lily at Canterbury Ballet that she had the right training to provide her with the transferable skills to have an opportunity like this that she will gain so much from and never forget.

Veronica and Craig van Rij