Royal New Zealand Ballet principal dancer Ana Gallardo Lobaina is reincarnated as The Firebird. Photo / Mark Mitchell
An old Russian fairytale is translocated to a desert wasteland in an allegory for our times as The Firebird – cut short by Covid during its debut tour – headlines the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s new double bill.
Affectionately dubbed “Max Max: The Ballet”, Kiwi choreographer Loughlan Prior’s dystopian take on The Firebird is a triumph of hope in a world that’s falling apart.
It’s a message Royal New Zealand Ballet principal dancer Ana Gallardo Lobaina thinks is exactly what we need right now.
Inspired by the image of a phoenix rising from the ashes, the dramatic title role was created specifically for the 32-year-old Cuban, who’s risen swiftly through the ranks since joining the company five years ago.
In 2021, she starred in The Firebird’s premiere, but the tour was curtailed by Covid before reaching the South Island. Now, she’s preparing for a six-centre return season, which opens in Wellington on April 30.
Four years on, she believes the work has more relevance than ever.
“There are those moments in your career where you really feel you are in the right place at the right time,” she says.
“We might not have a pandemic happening, but the world continues to come up with events that crush me. When I think of the future my children and my grandchildren will have, it’s quite scary.
“The Firebird is life and energy and power and love – and she’s willing to die to save humanity.”
A reimagining of the original Russian fairytale, the ballet is set in a bleak future where a handful of ragtag survivors roam a desert landscape starved of water.
Half-woman and half-bird, the Firebird is a mythical creature with magical powers.
Prior, RNZ Ballet’s choreographer in residence, describes Gallardo Lobaina as a dancer who connects emotionally with the audience and has a chameleon-like ability to translate ballet into an animal form.
During her debut performances in 2021, she became so lost in the role that she found herself in tears.
“Telling a story and being in a narrative world is my absolute favourite part of the job,” she says.
“Even though she’s a character I have created in my head, when someone is holding you because you’ve been hurt, because you’re dying, because your heart has been broken and you’ve lost hope, that feels quite human to me.”
Known for his innovative and visually adventurous style, Prior has exploded on to the international dance scene – named as one of “25 to Watch” in 2025 by the prestigious Dance Magazine.
Last year, his gender-bending take on queer history, Macaroni, premiered with BalletX in Philadelphia to a rousing ovation.
A local reviewer called it a “revolutionary war-era Philadelphia meets Bridgerton meets a period movie meets drag queens and addresses everything from teatime to riding horses, to lawn flamingos and Christmas sweaters”.
In February, he headlined the Perth Festival’s Ballet at the Quarry with a site-specific work, The Wild Between Stars, which was performed outdoors.
Based between New Zealand and London, he already has a full dance card ahead of him for the rest of the year.
In October, his Hansel & Gretel is being revived by Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the following month a new full-length ballet commissioned by Ballet Ireland will embark on a nationwide tour, although the details for that one remain strictly under wraps.
Last month, Prior flew in to rehearsals with The Firebird cast in Wellington, the city he still thinks of as home.
Many of the dancers are reprising their original roles and in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch, the work will be accompanied by a full orchestra for the first time.
The new production will be richer and more layered, Prior promises, although the subtle changes he’s making may be imperceptible to the audience.
“It’s such a gift to revive something because as an artist, you’re never fully satisfied. Now I’ve had some breathing room, I can go in and tweak a few things.”
The Firebird is being staged as a double bill with the New Zealand premiere of My Brilliant Career.
A one-act ballet choreographed by Cathy Martson for Queensland Ballet, it’s based on the 1901 book by feminist Australian writer Miles Franklin (an internationally acclaimed film adaptation, in 1979, starred Judy Davis and Sam Neill).
The Firebird, however, will be the real drawcard. It’s the result of a lifelong love affair for Prior, who was captivated by the potency of Igor Stravinsky’s original score as a 5-year-old.
To deconstruct the story while staying true to the music, he collaborated with set and costume designer Tracy Grant Lord to use the mythology of the Phoenix as an allegory.
“If we keep going down this path of not taking care of the Earth and not replenishing the precious resources we have, what would happen? That was the question we posed within the format of Stravinsky’s music,” he says.
The approach was partly inspired by natural disasters that were becoming more prevalent at the time.
“But, we were also interested in how big fires come through that are very destructive and disastrous, then the germination of new plants and life is cultivated because of that destruction.
“Imbuing some hope at the end was really important, not only because the music is so triumphant and gorgeous but because, personally, I have hope. I think it’s never too late.”
For Gallardo Lobaina, reimmersing herself in the role, four years on, has been an intense experience.
As a child in Cuba, she suffered badly from asthma, taking up ballet dancing at the age of 3 after a doctor recommended exercise to strengthen her lungs.
At 14, she left home to train in Havana, later moving with her family to Florida where her parents still live.
Although plagued by hay fever since coming to New Zealand in 2020, she hadn’t had an asthma attack since her early teens – until she caught Covid and woke in the early hours of the morning in her Wellington flat, unable to breathe.
“Covid meant that we had to cancel The Firebird tour, so I was at home, super-depressed, and then Covid brought my asthma back,” she says.
“Allergies are just part of my everyday life, but not being able to breathe in this industry, it just really doesn’t work.”
Thankfully, her asthma is now back under control and the hay fever symptoms she still struggles with daily miraculously disappear the moment she begins to dance.
“Something must shift in my brain. I can be sneezing from the minute I wake up and be barely able to open my eyes. Then I start class and everything’s fine.”
At rehearsals, she’s been refining the quick bird-like movements that characterise the Firebird’s curious, playful nature – in contrast to the calm elegance of her Odette in Swan Lake.
Her goal is to stay truly in character, in perfect harmony with the choreography and a musically complex score.
“You have to put everything into it,” she says. “It cannot be less than 100% or you’re not being honest anymore. You’re not truly the Firebird.
“Locky has such a clear vision of the story, crafted scene by scene. I just want to make that happen in the physical world, because it’s all already in his head.”
Joanna Wane is an award-winning senior lifestyle writer with a special interest in social issues and the arts.
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