I was one of those weird kids that just always wanted to dance. My family, you know, are fantastic; they're wonderful people. Dad was an accountant, Mum was my mum and I have brothers and sisters that there's no artistic sort of dance background in our family at all. So, I was this sort of mutant child who, you know, used to dance around the house all the time and I used to dance in front of the TV when the TV was off so I could see myself, you know, moving around. And whenever there was a family gathering, I was always putting on a show and annoying the hell out of everyone. So, I guess it was in my DNA and I didn't really have a plan B. I’d started training when I was seven. I didn't realize that all the other boys at school wouldn't think it was quite as cool as what I did. So, that was, a life journey. But yeah, I just love to dance. And I guess ballet, because I saw some ballet on TV, which was Rudolf Nureyev doing Don Quixote with the Australian Ballet. And I went, Oh, that's the sort of dance I want to do. And then I went to a ballet school and 10 years later I was in Melbourne at the Australian Ballet School. And two years later I joined the company.
I've got to say the first time I saw that portrait, I was just in awe really. I'd seen all of the preparatory work that Peter had done through his journals and diaries and things, and he talked a lot about it. So, I guess I knew that the dance element would be as it was, and it was incredibly beautiful. But I had no idea of what I'd look like. And it was really, really amazing. He caught a moment that sort of not, I guess what people would think necessarily is a former dancer and, a, you know, artistic director, because we tend to be on, you know, sort of like ‘Welcome to the ballet’. And it was sort of more of a pensive moment. And I really liked that ’cos, you know, I feel like it's the side of me that sometimes people don't get to see. And so it's beautiful that it's the side that he's shown.
