Cinderella’s Favourite Things!

Tonia Looker is a professional ballerina for the Royal New Zealand Ballet and next month you’ll be able to watch her take the stage as Cinderella in their next production.

But it’s not all Prince Charming and crystal slippers, take a sneak peek into the life of a ballet dancer as Tonia shares her favourite things with us.

The TOWER season of Cinderella opens in Wellington on August  2 and will be showing at seven locations across NZ. Head to www.nzballet.org.nz/cinderella for booking details, show dates and locations!

It’ll be a truly enchanting production. (We have a double pass to give away here!)

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Tonia trained at the Australian Ballet School and joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2008 at the age of 18.

Enjoy Tonia’s favourite things here…

EAT:

• As a dancer it is really important to maintain as healthy a diet as possible. What I do requires me to work out intensely throughout the day so food needs to fuel my body!I love Wellington’s fantastic coffee and my favourite indulgence would have to be chocolate!
• I also enjoy baking on the occasional weekend and my chunky choc chip cookies are always a huge hit with my fellow company members!

BUY

• I am most certainly a shoe girl! I own somewhere over 40 pairs of heels alone, not counting all the other types!
• I also love candles. I think they completely change the atmosphere of a room and help me to relax.

ENTERTAIN:

• I absolutely love camping and bushwalking, anything that involves the outdoors really. I also love to read and have always had a fascination for ancient history and archaeology.
• Aside from that my favourite weekend activity would probably involve a comedy movie, Frankie Magazine and a nice drink with my friends.
• As an extra little interest to compliment my dance career I am also studying photography. NZ is certainly a beautiful country to photograph!

PEOPLE:

• The best people in my world are my family and friends. I feel very lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive family and such beautiful friends. To me, the people you share your life with are such an important part of living a happy life. I am thankful for that every day!

KNOW:

• I have been very lucky to have an incredibly supportive family who allowed me to have the opportunity to follow what I have wanted to do. One thing I know is that hard work and dedication are so important to achieve your goals.
• Also, I was once told to see everything as an opportunity to achieve. Never step back from those opportunities to do what you are passionate about. Every little bit counts.

PLACES:

•  My favourite place on Earth would have to be my family home in Melbourne, Australia. There really is no place like home! A close second though would be here in Wellington, NZ. It’s such a friendly little city and just so liveable. Swellington!

Check out Tonia’s blog www.tonialooker.wordpress.com to see all her photography and dance news!

Will you head along to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s production of Cinderella? 

Images taken by Tonia Looker©