2023 RNZB Foundation Scholarship

January 2023

With thanks to the generous support from an anonymous donor, the Foundation is thrilled to announce the RNZB Foundation Scholar for 2023.

The Scholarship supports a young Kiwi dancer as they work to realise their potential in this most demanding of professions.

The Royal New Zealand Ballet Foundation Scholar sits alongside the two Friedlander Foundation Scholars and the long-standing and prestigious Todd Scholar, expanding the pathways available for talented young New Zealanders to pursue professional careers in dance in Aotearoa.

The 2023 RNZB Foundation Scholar is Ema Takahashi.

Ema was born in Japan and moved to New Zealand at the age of three, starting dancing in Christchurch the same year. She began full time training through Convergence Dance Studio’s ‘Aspire’ programme in 2020 before being accepted into the New Zealand Youth Ballet Company in 2021 and 2022. Her tutors at New Zealand Youth Ballet included former RNZB Principal Abigail Boyle. In 2022 she was awarded her RAD Solo Seal and was also runner up in the National Young Performer Awards. She was a member of the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s National Mentor Programme in 2021 and 2022. Ema performed with the RNZB as a guest for Cinderella and Venus Rising in 2022.