RAD New Zealand | Summer School 2026 – Pathways to Performance Course

Booking Deadline:

Monday 8 December 2025

Event Date:

Monday 12 January 2026 – Saturday 17 January 2026

Event Time:

9:00am – 4:00pm

Country:

New Zealand

Location:

Wellington

Available Online?

Who’s it for?

Students who have sat RAD Intermediate and above (or equivalent)

Fee:

Please see information for fee table

Contact:

office@rad.org.nz

Pathways to Performance Course – New Zealand Summer School 2026

Pathways to Performance is available by application to vocational students who are in RAD Intermediate or Advanced levels. Selected students will work with RNZB Soloist and Choreographer in Residence, Shaun James Kelly, to focus on repertoire and choreography.

Students will explore choreographic techniques, strengthen their performance skills and learn a section of Shaun’s recent work, Prismatic Variations, to gain insight into how professional choreography is created and brought to life. Students will be selected based on experience and age.

Venue

Te Whaea

11 Hutchinson Street, Newtown, Wellington

Fees

Course	Earlybird Member	Earlybird Member	Earlybird Member	Earlybird Member
Vocational course	$575	$625	$630	$680

*Early bird fee available between 1 August – 31 October 2025. From 1 November 2025, the normal fee will apply.

Scholarships

A limited number of partial scholarships are available on all courses to students based on need – including for families with a community services card. To apply contact the National Director: bwilliams@rad.org.nz

Discounts

Sibling Discounts; Two sibling students: 10% off total cost of tuition fee and three or more sibling students 15% off the total cost of tuition fees. Please contact office@rad.org.nz to receive the discount. Discount will be applied to your second installment.

Group Discounts: A 10% discount will be applied to the tuition fee for groups of 5 or more students attending from the same Dance School. Please contact office@rad.org.nz to receive the discount. Discount will be applied to your second installment.

Discounts cannot be combined, only one option is allowed per booking.

Timetable

The timetables will be available later in the year.

Pathways to Performance Tutor

Our Summer School tutors are a dynamic team of experienced dance educators and industry professionals, dedicated to inspiring and nurturing the next generation of dancers.

With a wealth of knowledge across a range of disciplines, they bring energy, creativity, and a deep passion for teaching. Whether students are attending for the first time or returning, they’ll benefit from expert guidance in a supportive and motivating environment.

Choreography

Shaun James Kelly

Shaun James Kelly has shown himself to be a versatile and compelling artist over the past decade at the Royal New Zealand Ballet, taking on leading classical and contemporary roles and creating new, exciting work for the RNZB.

In 2023, revisited Mercutio and Benvolio in the newly created Romeo & Juliet. For RNZB’s Lightscapes season, Shaun danced in Alice Topp’s Logos, Anabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Requiem for a Rose, Balanchine’s Serenade as the Waltz Boy and in Moss Te Ururangi Patterson’s original Te Ao Mārama. Shaun rounded out 2023 by reprising his character Hansel in Loughlan Prior’s Hansel & Gretel.

2023 also saw Shaun’s choreographic career keep building its stride, winning the Harry Haythorne Choreographic Award and being commissioned to create his new piece Prismatic in celebration of the RNZB’s 70th anniversary gala Platinum. Shaun held choreographic workshops for the Royal Academy of Dance New Zealand as part of their summer programme 2023/2024 and judged the 2023 DanceArt Ballet Competition.

In 2022, Shaun choreographed Alba as part of the RNZB’s first all-digital season Ballet Bites and his work The Ground Beneath Our Feet was staged as part of Tutus on Tour. He danced the roles of Prince Charming and The Fab Five’s Thiery in Loughlan Prior’s Cinderella, and also performed in Olivier Wevers’ The Sofa, Alice Topp’s Aurum, Sarah Foster-Sproull’s The Autumn Ball and Twyla Tharp’s WaterbabyBagetelles.

In 2021, Shaun revisited the role of Wedding Couple in Johan Kobborg and Ethan Stiefel’s Giselle. Shaun also danced the role of Ziggy (Scavenger) in the world premiere of The Firebird by Loughlan Prior. He relished dancing the pas de trois in Michael Auer and Patricia Barker’s staging of the beloved classical ballet Paquita. At the end of 2021, Shaun got to return to one of his favourite roles, Puck in Liam Scarlett’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where he was reviewed as “the perfect Puck… with needle sharp technique.”

2020 saw Shaun creating a new work for the RNZB RAW studio performances—The Things We Left Unsaid was born starting with a pas de deux created via Zoom during the COVID-19 lockdown. The duet was also performed as part of the RAD 14+ Gala. Although COVID-19 disrupted performances, Shaun was taking on solo roles in Twyla Tharp’s Waterbaby Bagatelles, Andrea Schermoly’s Within Without, Alice Topp’s Aurum, and working on new choreography with Sarah Foster-Sproull in Ultra Folly.

2019 started strongly for Shaun as an RNZB Choreographer in Residence, creating his first mainstage work The Ground Beneath Our Feet for the New Choreographic Series.

Throughout 2019, Shaun danced the roles of Rothbart in Black Swan, White Swan by Mário Radačovský, Waltz Boy in George Balanchine’s Serenade and one of the two lead couples in William Forsythe’s Artifact II. He also performed in James O’Hara’s The Sky Is Not So Different To Us, Perhaps…. Shaun finished the year on a high, creating the character of dreamy, innocent Hansel, for the world premiere of Loughlan Prior’s Hansel & Gretel.

In 2018, New Zealand audiences saw Shaun as the Reverend Campbell in The Piano: the ballet, in Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and Sechs Tänze as part of the Dancing with Mozart programme, and in three works in Strength & Grace, including one of the ‘sons’ in Danielle Rowe’s Remember, Mama. He closed the year performing the title role of the Nutcracker in Val Caniparoli’s The Nutcracker, as well as Chinese Tea. In 2017, Shaun received critical acclaim as Frédéri in L’Arlésienne by Roland Petit and Mercutio in Francesco Ventriglia’s Romeo and Juliet.

Other highlights in Shaun’s career to date include Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, first male soloist in Johan Kobborg’s Les Lutins, soloist in Jiří Kylián Soldier’s Mass, William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, the duet in Alexander Ekman’s Cacti, and. International highlights include Puck in Liam Scarlett’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in Hong Kong; in the United Kingdom and Italy, they include the Wedding Couple pas de deux in Johan Kobborg and Ethan Stiefel’s Giselle, works by Andrew Simmons and Neil Ieremia, and Andonis Foniadakis’s Selon désir.

Born in Perth, Scotland, Shaun trained at the Dance School of Scotland before undertaking training at the English National Ballet School. While at the School he toured and performed with English National Ballet in numerous productions, including Derek Deane’s Swan Lake.

On graduating in 2011, Shaun took up a contract with the Tivoli Ballet Theatre in Copenhagen, where he danced solo roles in Bournonville repertoire including Napoli, La Ventana, Flower Festival at Genzano and Le Conservatoire. He also took the title roles in Dinna Bjorn’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier and danced the Nutcracker Prince in Peter Bo Bendixen’s The Nutcracker. Shaun joined the RNZB in 2014.

Shaun was also the recipient of the RNZB Harry Haythorne Choreographic Award for his work Blanć in 2016. In 2017, he created Aura for Tutus on Tour and choreographed a work that featured in New Zealand designer Andrea Moore’s catwalk show at New Zealand Fashion Week. Shaun was appointed as Choreographer in Residence with the RNZB in 2018 and created a children’s ballet, Little Red, for Te Papa Tongarewa’s school holiday programme. In 2024, he created Two, a male pas de deux for the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki’s‘Fashion Fantasy Ball’ celebrating Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei.

Further information

Payment

If paying by internet banking (please quote your full name as the reference and email a copy of the Internet Banking confirmation to office@rad.org.nz) Payment should be made to: Account Name: Royal Academy of Dance Bank Name: ANZ Bank Account No: 01 0517 0198208 00

If paying by Credit Card – we will send an invoice and there will be an option to pay by debit/credit card. Please note this will incur a surcharge.

What to bring?

Comfortable clothes to dance in

Ballet shoes will be required when dancing on the tarkett floor, these shoes must be clean and are not to be worn outside of studios. It is a good idea to bring a pair of slides or overboots to wear over their shoes when transferring between studios.

Jazz shoes if available.

Food for the day

How to Book?

Click on the book now button and fill out the form and submit, we will be in touch within 2 business days with payment information and confirmation of registration.

Please note payment of the 50% deposit secures your place.

Terms and Conditions

Applicants are asked to apply early to ensure a place as each workshop has a limited number of places.

Fees

All fees are inclusive of GST. The Academy reserves the right to amend fees where either tax changes take place during a calendar year or circumstances, such as the introduction of or a devaluation of a currency.

Closing Dates

Closing dates will be published locally, but the general rule is that closing dates is 10 days prior to the date of the workshop.

General Terms and Conditions

All applications and payments will be processed in order of receipt.
Correspondence will be sent primarily via email, if the email address is incorrect the RAD cannot be held responsible for missed or misdirected email communications.
Applications are non-transferable.
The Academy reserves the right to alter the advertised programme and/or tutor without prior notice. The information in this and other printed or electronic brochures/notices is correct at the time of print or going online.
If participant information is not received it is the responsibility of the individual who completed the booking to contact us to arrange for the information to be reissued:

Withdrawals, Transfers and Refunds

A refund of 80% of the fee (excluding the registration fee) will be considered for cancellations on medical grounds and on receipt of a medical certificate up to 21 days prior to the course commencement.

In limited situations on compassionate grounds, a refund of 80% of the fee (excluding the registration fee) will be considered for cancellations due to a family emergency up to 21 days prior to the course commencement. To apply, please contact the National Director: bwilliams@rad.org.nz

A refund of 50% (excluding the registration fee) will be considered for cancellations on medical grounds and on receipt of a medical certificate that is received less than 21 days prior to the course commencement.

Force Majeure

The RAD shall not be liable to refund fees or any other penalty should activities be cancelled due to any cause whatsoever beyond their control.

Press and Publicity Consent

During Summer School RAD staff may take photographs and video recordings. All photographs and video recordings will be the property of the RAD.

The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) does not allow photographs, video, audio (sound) recordings or any other images of anyone to be taken without their consent.

By signing the registration form, you agree to give the RAD your consent for you or your child/ward to be photographed and/or filmed by the RAD.

The RAD may use the photographs and footage in the following ways as part of our legitimate interests, and we may share them with local partners, and RAD offices worldwide) to use:

• As promotional material in RAD publications (print and digital)

• On the corporate RAD and RAD shop websites, social media channels and third-party partner sites

• To distribute to press and media outlets to use in their print/digital publications and on their social media channels, as requested

• To be shared with RAD staff and students for training/educational purposes

• For Library and Archives specific marketing and promotions

Staff and photographers will be informed of students who do have consent and they may be excluded from group situations.

In group settings where complete exclusion is difficult (e.g. large class photos) we will make reasonable efforts to avoid clearly identifying students. As it is often hard to exclude students in class groups, the RAD will make sure that no names or other identifying details are used

The RAD will only keep and use the images and footage for as long as is appropriate for business purposes (this means, for as long as we need to have access to the pictures/videos to operate as a company).

You are free to withdraw your consent at any time by sending an email to bwilliams@rad.org.nz. You do not need to specify a reason why you are withdrawing consent. If you do decide to withdraw your consent at a later time, any pictures/videos/audio taken and uploaded will not be used in any future publications or on our websites, but may continue to appear in publications already (including hardcopy publication) in circulation or in cache until cleared.

No monetary fee will be granted.

Data Protection Statement

The RAD hold information and contact details requested at the time of your booking that enable them to provide you with information relating to a participant’s registration for an activity. We will not disclose your information to a third party except where legally required to do so. In addition, our Privacy Statement and Company Privacy Policy are available to view and download: The full RAD Privacy Statement is available to view online here.

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Summer School 2026 – Pathways to Performance Course