11 Mar 2015

Dancer in no holds barre moves

8:52 am on 11 March 2015

Royal New Zealand ballet dancer Mayu Tanigaito's work-life balance puts the rest of us to shame.

Tanigaito is on tour with the company as it takes Don Quixote around New Zealand.

They arrived in Christchurch yesterday, but before departing for the South Island it was class and rehearsals.

"I like to warm up for class with some balance work," she said on the company's Facebook page.

The comments left by some of the nearly 13,000 people to have viewed the video, sum it up nicely, and succinctly: "Wow" and "amazing".

Tanigaito started her dance training at the age of six at Japan's Takahashi Wakako Ballet Studio, and continued her studies at Antwerp Royal Ballet School in Belgium, and The Rock School for Dance Education in the US. In 2007 she was a finalist in the Youth America Grand Prix. She joined the RNZB in 2012.