The Australian’s Australian of the Year: prescient ballet director David McAllister drove cultural change

It was the year David McAllister signed off on a record 20 years as the artistic director of the Australian Ballet.

Former Australian Ballet artistic director David McAllister. Picture: Toby Zerna

It was the year David McAllister signed off on a record 20 years as the artistic director of the Australian Ballet.

Once a humble student of the Australian Ballet School in 1981, the Perth-born dancer rose through the ranks to perform in and commission some of the largest shows Australia has seen.

He was the company’s principal artist for more than a decade and danced in productions including Romeo and Juliet, La Fille mal gardée, The Sleeping Beauty and Don Quixote.

McAllister has had some notable successes with commissioned ballets and presentations of new work by several major ­choreographers.

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His first commission in 2002 was from Graeme Murphy, a version of Swan Lake built around a love triangle that resembled the story of Charles, Diana and Camilla.

More recently, there has been a new Cinderella, commissioned from Alexei Ratmansky, a co-production of Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Wayne McGregor’s Chroma and Dyad 1929.

When taking on the role of head of the Australian Ballet, McAllister knew he didn’t just want to put on exceptional performances — he wanted to make a culture change as well.

As society shifted to become more inclusive with a focus on ability rather than looks, McAllister shifted the Australian Ballet alongside it.

Seeking to change the “look” of the company, McAllister wanted to better reflect the wider community it represented.

As the ballet school was taking on kids from a wider range of backgrounds, he wanted to filter that through the company too.

He gave contracts to more dancers from Japanese backgrounds, as the school was taking in a lot of students from Japan.

In 2012, McAllister also hired the first indigenous dancer for the company, Ella Havelka.

McAllister has published a memoir with an aspirational title — Soar — to coincide with his departure from the Australian Ballet after 40 years.

He is disarmingly candid about his personal life: the bullying he endured at school, his intimate relationships with other dancers, his gradual acceptance of his sexuality.

With a Member of the Order of Australia in 2004, McAllister is a truly deserving nominee for this year’s The Australian’s Australian of the Year.

Prominent Australians can be nominated by filling out the coupon below, or sending an email to [e-mail].

Nominations close on January 21.

We encourage our readers to put in a nomination for The Australian’s Australian of the Year, which was first won in 1971 by economist HC “Nugget” Coombs. Prominent Australians can be nominated by filling out the coupon above, or sending an email to [e-mail]. Nominations close on Thursday, January 21.