Dorothea Ashbridge, of Auckland, ONZM, for services to ballet
Dorothea Ashbridge was a dancer with the Royal Ballet in London for 20 years before immigrating to New Zealand, at which point she choreographed dance routines for TVNZ programmes before joining the Royal New Zealand Ballet. She was a founding member and ballet mistress of Limbs Dance Company. She has been a ballet tutor for the Auckland Performing Arts School and has been a jury member for several World Ballet Competitions internationally. A number of her students have achieved international success, and many of her privately tutored students have been selected for the Royal New Zealand Ballet. She was a coach of classical ballet at UNITEC for 10 years. In 2007, Mrs Ashbridge performed a duet as part of the Auckland Tempo Dance Festival at the age of 79.