MAJOR back injury didn’t stop the Royal NZ Ballet’s Kate Venables working with the company.
The former principal dancer (Dracula and The Nutcracker) performed with the Ballet between 2003 and 2007, but a year and a half of that time was spent in pain due to the pinched sciatic nerve which ultimately halted her dancing career.
“[There were times when] my legs were numb from the knees down. I remember walking along Courtenay Place and I couldn’t feel my feet as I crossed the road.”
Hoping to recover from the injury Venables took up pilates, “an intelligent form of fitness”, which has since became a full time job. She teaches classes on Tory and Featherston Sts.
“Then I went through the ‘oh my god what am I going to do with my life’.” A turning point was being given the opportunity to explore her other talent – illustration and design – with the Ballet. For the Tutus on Tour programme in 2006 she designed the costumes for Si Supieras, drawing on her childhood fantasies of both dancing and designing. While growing up in Australia she remembers sketching outfits that her mother would then make, especially for her at-home performances.
Venables went on to do motion capture work with Weta Workshop, but recently she was asked to design outfits for one of the works in the Ballet’s From Here to There. The season is split into three works, one of which is A Song in the Dark by Andrew Simmons, set to the music of Philp Glass.  Venables was invited to design the outfits because she had worked with Simmons before.
“It’s quite a modern piece with no story so I could do what I wanted.”
She says comfort was key when designing the outfits.
“I was asking the girls ‘is the bum okay?’ ‘Is it going to ride up?’” she laughs. The green outfits are inspired by the works of Spanish Renaissance artist El Greco, adds Venables.
“I love his rich colours, and the way the greens blend with the blacks.” From Here to There, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, St James Theatre, March 24-27.