david mcallister

Since starting her career on Young Talent Time, Tina Arena has become one of our most successful musical exports, having sold over 10 million records worldwide. She's now flexing new creative muscles as the artistic director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.

Also, we meet the students and two high-profile alumni creating new work at The Australian Ballet School and we learn about a new study that suggests job insecurity and other factors may be adversely affecting the mental health and wellbeing of performing artists.

Today I'm speaking with David Hallberg. We actually started this season with David McAllister who had just stepped down as Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet. We are now speaking with David Hallberg, the brand new Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet. David was born in a small American town called Rapid City in South Dakota. He started dancing at nine years old, after seeing Fred Astaire on the television. And he only started ballet when he was 13. But by 17, he was selected to do a year at the Paris Opera Ballet School before joining his dream company, ABT, the American Ballet Theatre.

He rose swiftly through the ranks, to principal within four years. And then he was the first American to ever be asked to be a principal with the Bolshoi Ballet, the Russian juggernaut that had previously only accepted Russian trained dancers. In this wonderfully engaging interview, David talks about his love of dance, growing up in America, and the moment he was first named as a principal. But David also shares some of his darker moments. He talks about bullying, and the injury that crippled him for over two years, before finally returning to the stage and becoming the new Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet. When we spoke, David had just announced that due to Covid the Australian Ballet won't be performing for the remainder of 2021.

This episode is sponsored by MDM Dancewear.  Listeners are offered a 10% discount code on MDM Dancewear, for a limited time. 

For the latest in all things dance, head to fjordreview.com and follow us on Instagram at @fjordreview

Production dream team ✨

Hosted by @byclaudialawson

Produced by @fjordreview

Additional Production @clinttopic

Sound & Editing @outputmedia

Studios @brightsidesydney

@sawtoothstudios

David McAllister is probably the most well-known face of dance in Australia. He was born in Perth and he was accepted into the Australian Ballet School as a 17-year-old. He graduated and joined the company directly, wowing crowds across the globe. His final performance was in “Giselle” in 2001. And then, three months later, he was named Artistic Director of that same company.

During his tenure, he led the company from strength to strength, staging brand new works, touring the company around the world and inspiring a new level of technical brilliance. But he also created a company with meaning—setting up groundbreaking maternity leave policies and health and wellness policies, so that dancers could have careers much longer than they could have ever have dreamed.

In 2020, after 20 years as artistic director and four decades with the company, he announced his retirement. It was going to be a year of celebrations, but then Covid—the company closed down last March and they only made it on stage for three performances. David is currently in Helsinki, Finland, where he called me, but he's on his next adventure, staging the Finnish National Ballet's 100th anniversary performance of “Swan Lake.” David speaks candidly about his retirement, what Covid meant for him and the Australian Ballet, and his big regret while he was at the Australian Ballet.

This episode of Talking Pointes is sponsored by @ecodancers

For the latest in all things dance, head to fjordreview.com and follow us on Instagram at @fjordreview

Production dream team ✨

Hosted by @byclaudialawson

Produced by @fjordreview

Additional Production @clinttopic

Sound & Editing @outputmedia

Studios @brightsidesydney

@sawtoothstudios