Ballet to sell off costumes

NEW ZEALAND: The Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) is auctioning off more than 100 costumes from past productions. The auction marks the first time items from the group's wardrobe department have been offered for sale. Made by hand - many by the late Kristian Fredrikson - the 140 listed items include tutus, tiaras and character costumes including ogres, goblins, rabbits and butterflies.

The costumes were worn in productions ranging from The Nutcracker and Swan Lake to Coppelia. A RNZB spokesperson said the group had been prompted to sell the garments after running out of storage space at its Wellington home. The spokesperson said the group had several sets of each costume and had retained a complete set from each production for its own archives.

"We are not selling one-offs with the exception of a couple of prototype costumes that never made it to the stage. Costumes cannot be worn forever, they would wear out and so there is no point in these costumes remaining unused and unseen in our storage facilities. If we needed to recreate something for a future production, we can make replicas from the costumes that exist in our archives."

Thirteen of the most precious costumes will feature at a live auction on June 29 while the remainder will be sold by silent auction form June 27 to 29.