David Hallberg new AD of Australian Ballet

[kbarber]

Australian Ballet just announced this 10 minutes ago on their facebook feed

BREAKING NEWS: David Hallberg will be the next artistic director of The Australian Ballet! This international dance star is currently a principal of American Ballet Theatre and Bolshoi Ballet, a principal guest at The Royal Ballet, and Resident Guest Artist of our company. We’re delighted that he’ll be bringing his unique vision, experience and leadership to this role. David has a long relationship with and admiration for our company, and we’re looking forward to welcoming him in 2021.

 

and on Hallberg's fb feed

Announced today in Melbourne, I am thrilled to share that I will become the next Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet starting January 2021.

I am excited at the opportunity to finally realize an artistic vision and it feels like the right place and the right time to get to work doing so. I have had such amazing opportunities throughout my career and I am so ready to funnel that into a company I so love and respect. I have had a long 10 year history with the company, first as a Guest Artist, then using the expertise of the world renowned Medical Team (which was all explained in the book!) and finally as Resident Guest Artist. This appointment makes so much sense in many ways.

It has been a long and eventful (to say the least) career and I have always known that the time will come where I take all of my absorbed experience and become an Artistic Director. This is the time. I can’t wait to realize my ambitious vision for the future of this essential art form with an institution that I so deeply love and respect.

See you in Australia!

[pherank]

Well that's an interesting surprise.

[Syzygy]

From this New York Times "David Hallberg to Run the Australian Ballet" piece:

“Mr. Hallberg said he had some performance commitments through 2021, including “a proper farewell performance” during Ballet Theater’s 2021 Metropolitan Opera House season. But he has no plans to dance with the Australian Ballet. “My shows are numbered,” he said. “There are lots of things I never got around to as a dancer, but it’s time to accept that and move on.”

I’ll miss his dancing, but I admit it’s such a relief to me when dancers don’t feel the need to perform with the companies they direct. 

[California]

3 minutes ago, Syzygy said:

From this New York Times "David Hallberg to Run the Australian Ballet" piece:

“Mr. Hallberg said he had some performance commitments through 2021, including “a proper farewell performance” during Ballet Theater’s 2021 Metropolitan Opera House season. But he has no plans to dance with the Australian Ballet. “My shows are numbered,” he said. “There are lots of things I never got around to as a dancer, but it’s time to accept that and move on.”

Will this be the shortened 5-week season at the Met? I'm guessing he'd want Osipova there, but I'm still glad I already have a subscription ticket for their Giselle June 11. You never know! (I'm curious which things he "never got around to"!)

[Syzygy]

8 minutes ago, California said:

(I'm curious which things he "never got around to"!)

Me too!

[ECat]

WOW!  This sounds like a wonderful and exciting opportunity for David.  Congratulations to him!  He did his long rehab with the therapists at the Australian Ballet and in his book he mentioned how highly regarded the company.

[Dale]

ABT release: 

 

DAVID HALLBERG NAMED ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF

THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET

American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer David Hallberg has been appointed Artistic
Director of The Australian Ballet, effective January 2021. It was announced on Monday, March 2, 2020
in Melbourne by The Australian Ballet. Hallberg succeeds David McAllister, who served as Artistic
Director for the last 30 years.

Commenting on the appointment, American Ballet Theatre Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie
said, “David Hallberg has proven himself to be a leader among his peers, as well as an innovator. His
leadership of ABT’s choreography workshop, ABT Incubator, successfully provided a platform for new
choreographic voices and creativity. I am proud to have witnessed his growth, skill and intelligence as an
artist and look forward to seeing his next chapter unfold.”

David Hallberg said, “I am honored to accept the position of Artistic Director of

The Australian Ballet, an institution that inspires and energizes me through its dancers and its culture. It
is a perfect time in my career to utilize the experience I’ve garnered over 20 years, both at ABT and
abroad, and funnel it into the development of dancers and audiences in Australia. I am so inspired to
realize my ambitious artistic vision for this world-class institution. The future looks very bright.”
Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, Hallberg began his formal ballet training with Kee Juan
Han at the Arizona Ballet School in Phoenix. In 1999, he was accepted into the Paris Opera Ballet
School. Hallberg attended American Ballet Theatre’s New York Summer Intensive in 1999 and 2000 and
joined ABT Studio Company in September 2000. He joined ABT as a member of the corps de ballet in
April 2001 and was promoted to Soloist in January 2004. Hallberg was appointed a Principal Dancer 

with ABT in May 2006. His repertoire includes ABT’s entire classical canon, as well as a range of works
by Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky including Chamber Symphony, Seven Sonatas, Firebird, On the
Dnieper, The Nutcracker, Whipped Cream and The Bright Stream.

Hallberg joined the Bolshoi Ballet as a Premier Danseur in September 2011, the first
American to join the company under that title. In 2017, his memoir A Body of Work: Dancing to the
Edge and Back was published by Touchstone.

Hallberg will perform with American Ballet Theatre during its 80th Anniversary Spring
season at the Metropolitan Opera House, May 11–July 4, 2020, in the roles of Romeo in Romeo and Juliet
on Monday evening, May 25 and Albrecht in Giselle on Thursday evening, June 11. The Metropolitan
Opera Box office opens Sunday, March 22. For tickets and information, please visit www.abt.org.
Mr. Hallberg’s performances with American Ballet Theatre are sponsored by Avery and Andrew F. Barth.