Ballet superstar David Hallberg has his swan song at last

When David Hallberg retired from the ballet stage in 2020, he had no intention of taking another bow.

Acclaimed retired dancer David Hallberg is making a surprise comeback to the stage with the Australian Ballet. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

When David Hallberg retired from the ballet stage in 2020, he had no intention of taking another bow.

The former American Ballet Theatre and Bolshoi Ballet superstar, widely acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest dancers, had triumphantly returned from a potentially career-ending foot injury – but by 2020 his dancing days, he inferred, were behind him.

His retirement made international headlines; so too the news he would take up the plum post of artistic director at the Australian Ballet in January 2021, replacing David McAllister.

And so for his 2022 season, balletomanes may have anticipated some exciting surprises – but none as big as the one he dropped overnight: he is returning to the stage.

The 39-year-old will perform in the company’s contemporary dance piece Kunstkamer, which opens in Sydney in April.

“These moments seldom come around,” he said. “It’s really special.”

The return to the stage will be extra special for Hallberg, whose 2020 farewell world tour was cancelled as the pandemic raged. Hallberg was denied his swan song.

“It wasn’t my goal as director to return to the stage, but I feel that where I am in my life, the age that I am, if there are appropriate roles and creative journeys to go on, specifically with the dancers I am directing, I think that it could be a really beneficial experience for the dancers and for Australian audiences,” he said.

The US-born dancer and choreographer said Kunstkamer would mark his first performance since November 2019, when he danced in the Royal Ballet’s production of The Sleeping Beauty.

Hallberg said his role was a small one, akin to a “concert master” who oversees the evening.

The ambitious dance piece was created by four of Nederlands Dans Theater’s long-term choreographers including its former AD, Paul Lightfoot.

Planned as a celebration of the company’s 60th anniversary, it has a cast of 46 and is divided into 21 scenes.

Within the dance company it is referred to as “the monster”.

The Australian performance will mark the first time the production has been seen outside Europe.