David McAllister AC (b. 1963), dancer and former artistic director of the Australian Ballet, was born in Perth and began studying ballet in the early 1970s. Having weathered harassment from both schoolmates and teachers for his love of dance, at seventeen he left for Melbourne and further training at the Australian Ballet School. He joined the Australian Ballet in 1983, won bronze at the Fifth International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 1985, and was promoted to principal artist with the company in 1989. Working under successive artistic directors Maina Gielgud and Ross Stretton, McAllister's major roles included those in Onegin, Romeo and Juliet, La Fille mal gardee, Don Quixote, The Sentimental Bloke, Coppelia, Manon, La Sylphide, Sinfonietta and Stepping Stones. As a guest artist he has danced with the Bolshoi Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Singapore Dance Theatre, among other companies. After making his final appearance as dancer in Giselle in 2001 he became the Australian Ballet's artistic director shortly afterwards. During twenty years in this role, McAllister helped to transform the company into one of the best dance companies in the world. In his 2020 memoir Soar: A Life Freed by Dance he writes that highlights of his tenure include choreographing a new production of Sleeping Beauty (2015), commissioning new works, supporting local choreographers and introducing a maternity leave policy and a health and wellness team. Since retiring in 2020, he has choreographed a new Swan Lake (2021) for the Finnish National Ballet.
