Behind the scenes of Shortland Street
11 March 2026
We visit the set of Shortland Street to find out how New Zealand's longest-running soap is brought to life.
Behind the scenes at the Royal New Zealand Ballet
We chat to Callahan Laird, Artist at the RNZB about what it takes to be a fulltime dancer.
Tucked away behind the St James Theatre in Wellington, the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB) headquarters is a whirling empire of athletes, artists, support crew and business folk hard at work sustaining our world-class ballet company.
Callahan Laird is amongst the bright stream of dancers. He began dance lessons as a five-year-old in Christchurch, initially tagging along to his sisters’ lessons. “I think Mum just thought ‘Why don't we send him in and see how he likes it?’ I did my first class and I absolutely loved it.”
Callahan went on to be a New Zealand School of Dance Scholar and Associate for three years before joining the school as a Classical Major. He joined the RNZB as the Todd Scholar in 2020, before being promoted to Artist in 2021; he’s currently sponsored by the AA.
RNZB dancer, Callahan Laird. Photo by Nicola Edmonds.
For Callahan, a normal day starts with stretches before class begins at 10am. Following warm up exercises at the bar, it’s on to the floor to practice the positions required for the afternoon and, towards the end of this class, there will be work on leaps and turns.
The emphasis of the morning’s work is to prepare the dancers’ bodies for the rigors of rehearsal work during the afternoon. Callahan explains that on average, they’re on the go for around seven hours in total. “Some days, when we’re not needed in rehearsal, there’ll be some gym work, or we go to the Pilates room. Guys tend to focus more on upper body work; strengthening and opening up, so that when it comes to the big lifts, we're able to perform them effortlessly.”
Hours of training are required to make leaps look effortless. Photo by Nicola Edmonds.
He and his fellow company members are supported, both physically and mentally, by a team of health professionals. Besides on-call massage and a dedicated Pilates instructor, there are regular visits from a dietician, who will provide nutritional advice and recipe ideas depending on the particular requirements of the shows of that season. “For example, with Macbeth, because we’re all in suits and covered up, we can eat a bit more, bulk up and get really strong.”
There’s also a performance psychologist at hand with tools to help the dancers work through their nerves or just figure out how to get out of a slump. “As dancers, we're not perfect. We may mess up and sometimes we'll mess up on stage, but it's about learning how to get out of bad mindsets. The biggest challenge for me is trying to make a very hard step look easy, and make other people believe that anyone can do it.”
"The biggest challenge is trying to make a very hard step look easy", Callahan says. Photo by Nicola Edmonds.
Callahan works hard to maintain a balance with his non-ballet life. He’s a self-professed homebody and describes living and working away from his friends and family in Christchurch for the last eight years as a sacrifice.
“It's tough, but I'm doing what I love.”
Callahan is proud of his special connection with the AA. “I'm very thankful and it feels really special being a kind of ambassador. With this support, we can give the gift of our performances back to New Zealanders, which is amazing.”
AA Members are entitled to a 15% discount on selected Adult and Child tickets to Royal New Zealand Ballet performances.
This story is from the Autumn 2026 issue of AA Directions magazine.
