Here is your tell-all guide, an all-access pass for ballet lovers and the ballet-curious by internationally acclaimed dancer and former artistic director of The Australian Ballet, David McAllister. In his first talk for HKLitfest week 2024, David will step into his literary shoes to share everything from toe acting, to the perils of partnering and onstage/offstage romances in the ultimate peek behind the curtain.

Speaker:
David McAllister
Author of Ballet Confidential, Guest Artistic Director of the West Australian Ballet

Moderator:
Prof. Anna CY Chan, Dean of the School of Dance, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts

About David McAllister
David McAllister was born in Perth Western Australia and started dancing at the age of 7. He trained for 10 years before being accepted to The Australian Ballet School in 1981, then joined The Australian Ballet in 1983, rising to the rank of Principal artist in 1989. He was awarded a bronze medal at the fifth International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 1985 and danced as a guest artist with the Bolshoi and Kirov Ballets, as well as the Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Singapore Dance Theatre, and The National Ballet of Canada. In 2001 he retired as a dancer and became the Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet, a job he held until his retirement in 2020, in that same year writing a memoir, Soar: A Life Freed by Dance with Amanda Dunn. He has created a number of ballet productions including The Sleeping Beauty and four children's ballets for The Australian Ballet and Swan Lake for the Finnish National Ballet. In 2023 he wrote Ballet Confidential and was the Interim Artistic Director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet. In 2024 he will be the Guest Artistic Director of the West Australian Ballet. He was awarded two Order of Australia awards, Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2004 and in 2021 a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).
 

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