David McAllister AC (b. 1963), dancer and former artistic director of the Australian Ballet, began studying ballet in Perth in the early 1970s. Having weathered harassment 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 and was promoted to principal artist with the company in 1989. 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 he writes that highlights of his tenure include choreographing a new production of Sleeping Beauty (2015), 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.
As part of Peter Brew-Bevan's conceptual process for his portrait of McAllister, he created a sketchbook. Packed with quotes about dance, notes from his conversations with McAllister and lists detailing the mood and form of his imagined portrait, the scrapbook provides insights into the development of the work and captures his sitter's personality and practice.
Commissioned with funds provided by The Stuart Leslie Foundation 2016
© Peter Brew-Bevan
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
8 September 2020
Penelope Grist’s spirits soar with Lisa Tomasetti’s Dancers in the Streets series.
Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet, David McAllister describes the trajectory of his relationship with dance.
