New Zealand dancers Hannah O’Neill, Steph Lee and Leslie Bowman making moves on stage and screen overseas

Last week it was announced New Zealand dancer Hannah O’Neill reached the coveted ‘etoile’ status within the prestigious dance company Paris Opera Ballet. Alice Peacock, a London-based former NZ Herald reporter, caught up with O’Neill
along with two other dancers from Aotearoa making moves on stage and screen overseas.

Hannah O’Neill was taking her bow on the stage of Opera Garnier in Paris, hand-in-hand with her dance partner Marc Moreau, when she realised something momentous was about to happen.

Shortly after dancing George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial, she and Moreau were named the two new etoiles, or star dancers, of the Paris Opera Ballet. O’Neill recalls turning her head to see Alexander Neef, general-director of the opera, emerging from the wings of the stage with the…