‘Do you get aroused?’ Retired ballet dancer David McAllister aims to demystify his profession, and talks about school bullying, where he came alive, and diets
- David McAllister, former principal dancer with The Australian Ballet, wrote ‘Ballet Confidential’ to answer some of the questions he gets asked and debunk myths
- He will be one of the guests at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival from March 4 to 10 where he will discuss his book
David McAllister is often bombarded with questions about ballet.
As a former principal dancer with The Australian Ballet, and its longest-serving artistic director – he retired at the end of 2020 after 20 years at the helm – McAllister is a respected voice on the topic.
“Most of these questions came at the end of the night after a raucous post-performance party,” says McAllister via video call from his home city, Perth, where he’s filling the artistic director role at the West Australian Ballet.
When McAllister was approached by publishing company Thames & Hudson to write a follow-up to his acclaimed 2020 memoir, Soar: A Life Freed by Dance, which he wrote with journalist Amanda Dunn, he thought a book debunking a few ballet myths would be a good idea.
