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00:06Hi Virginia.
00:08David, hello.
00:09Oh, it's lovely to talk to you.
00:11You've been an utterly driven dancer, pitiless in your self-criticism.
00:17Was that necessary to get you to the top?
00:20Absolutely necessary.
00:22I, in fact, probably don't know any other way.
00:25I just had this innate drive and dedication as a kid.
00:29So I think that's absolutely imperative to get to where I got.
00:33And was it fun up there?
00:36It was a lot of fun, but it was a lot of stress.
00:41And I think I now realise the sacrifice it took.
00:46I guess I did fly very close to the sun and the fall was fast and quick.
00:52But I think it just afforded me this moment to completely rebuild myself.
00:58Not only as an artist, but as a person.
01:02Well, your new chapter is leading the Australian Ballet.
01:05So I want to see you in action.
01:07Ha! I cannot wait for you to see me in action.
01:10I'll see you there.
01:11Thank you, Virginia.
01:15I'm Virginia Trioli and I've spent my life paying attention to creative Australians and wondering what is going on in
01:22that wild mind of theirs.
01:26In this series, I'll showcase artists and performers at the peak of their powers and tell the story of their
01:32triumphs, their stumbles and why they make the glorious work we love so much.
01:37David Holberg has been described as the Rudolf Nureyev of his generation, a tap dancing kid who rose to the
01:45top of classical ballet and danced on all the world's great stages, including as a rare American member of the
01:52famed Bolshoi Ballet.
01:54Now, as the artistic director of the Australian Ballet, he's taking the company that he cherishes for deeply personal reasons
02:02to exalted new heights.
02:05I'm thrilled to be unashamedly celebrating the art of making because we are a country of so many brilliant creative
02:13types.
02:29David, hello.
02:30Virginia.
02:32Great to see you.
02:33Nice to see you.
02:33And to meet you here.
02:35I know this building means a lot to you.
02:36Oh, it means so much to me, but it means so much to everyone.
02:40I mean, it's such an iconic building.
02:43It is the building.
02:44Tell me about your first glimpse of the Sydney Opera House.
02:47Well, my first glimpse was up in the air.
02:50I was in a plane.
02:51I was glued to the window and I just saw this amazing sight, you know, poking out of the harbour.
02:58And, of course, I was awestruck.
03:00But then I realised at one point I was going to dance on this stage.
03:05This great American dancer was coming to dance on the Australian stage.
03:09Yes.
03:10And how special it was, you know, for someone like me to come to Australia as a foreigner and to
03:17be able to hopefully light up the stage for Australian audiences.
03:22And now to direct the entire company.
03:25Huge responsibility.
03:27Thank you for that.
03:28Yes.
03:30Is there an Australian-ess that you connect to?
03:33A quality to the dance that's Australian?
03:36You know, it's the humanness.
03:39It's the warmth.
03:41Hmm.
03:41That's something that I was connected to from the very beginning with the dancers of this company,
03:47that the warmth that they exude to their audiences and I think as well that the
03:53audiences give it back to the performers on stage it's like a reciprocal kind of
03:58Australian warmth that I've always loved do you ever get the temptation to jump
04:03back on stage yourself those days are long gone Virginia unless you want to
04:09take my hand and join me on that stage you and me on stage together let's do it
04:12I think we should all right come on
04:31what does it require from a great dancer to really perform and bring out their
04:36best on the world's great stages the journey is fraught with a lot of self-doubt
04:43and dedication and commitment but you know that sacrifice we would all admit
04:49is worth it because yes we have the opportunity to dance on this amazing
04:55stage in this amazing theater but it is a true journey and it takes everything out
05:02of you to get here like most elite performers David's passion for dance
05:10began as a child all right David who is this beautiful little cherub here just a
05:18bit of a gangly awkward little suburban kid my brothers next to me mom and dad of
05:25course and here we are in our bow ties you know I think I loved a bow tie as a
05:30young
05:30kid you're a dandy from day one yeah I was a dandy on day one but um you know it's
05:36that
05:37was when I first started finding the love of dance the passion of dance how did it come
05:43to you um Fred Astaire I idolized him I saw him on the um on the TV screen yeah and
05:53for some reason I was
05:54just absolutely transfixed but yeah my first love was tap
06:14he was 13 when he actually said I'm going all in with ballet but in the meantime we really tried
06:24to combine what I call normal American boy activities but David's interest in dance was
06:32so strong when we actually moved to Phoenix Arizona he was thrilled because we were closer
06:38to California closer to Hollywood and it took us quite a long time to realize that he was exceptional
06:49so how did you start studying dance here you are as a young dance student and this is
06:53this is a more modern idiom here look at you the only bloke in class there amongst all the girls
06:59this picture actually reminds me of my community I mean this was my this is my group this is who
07:06accepted me at night at jazz class at tap class I was allowed to to be who I wanted to
07:14be it with my
07:15community you were relentlessly bullied at school relentless in fact there's really no way to diminish
07:23that or or find any humor in that it sounded unbelievably awful it was awful it was confusing
07:34I was about nine years old uh 10 years old and I was standing in line with maybe a friend
07:41um to to go
07:43into class in the morning and out of nowhere three kids came up to me three guys and they said
07:49um
07:50you're a girl and I was like what and they're like you're a girl and you know what girls do
07:57they
07:58wear perfume and they took a bottle and dumped it on me tipped an entire bottle of perfume yeah cheap
08:04perfume too and um and I just remember being doused in this perfume and just feeling so humiliated
08:16the scars run deep you hold your scars from childhood yeah for your entire life
08:23we were disgusted angry supportive I mean we I think we just kind of went into warrior mode
08:33the bullying had already started in Minneapolis with all the little hockey players yeah and the hockey
08:40kids would bring their skates to show and tell and David would bring his tap shoes so that was you
08:46you know that's when it started and um our the advice was to protect him by finding the environment
08:55that he was safe in you were saved in a way by this lovely gentleman Mr Han Mr Han was
09:07he gave me my foundation he recognized my talent in classical ballet before I even knew I wanted to be
09:15a
09:16ballet dancer and so I slowly transitioned from tap and jazz to strictly ballet and once I was ready
09:25I put the tights on and he just drilled me he showed me the foundations of classical ballet had I
09:35not had
09:35him yeah I don't know how I would have shaped as a dancer that teaching worked for you that severe
09:44drilling to use your phrase that that landed with you it did he was a drill sergeant yeah and I
09:51responded
09:51so well to it and you know I know training has changed I know um not everyone responds to that
09:58sort of
09:59uh teaching but I absorbed it like a sponge as his confidence grew David received an unexpected offer
10:08that would change the course of his life and so this is your audition tape for the parasolper
10:19do you like the technique you're seeing there um honestly it's clean but I had no idea what I was
10:26doing and if it was good I really didn't I just I just heard the commands from Mr Han and
10:34he was
10:34supportive of me auditioning for the Paris Opera School um but just look at the the the naivete in
10:42that face it's you know I'm just so green
10:50but he got such the cold shoulder from the dancers there talk me through that
10:55he was already uh toughened up not that he was tough but he had experienced bullying
11:04and rejection and he he didn't think it would happen there he had some really mean
11:11things happen and said to him all along and he wrote these postcards did he tell you about his
11:20postcards you tell me about the postcards he wrote the postcards so I reviewed some of the postcards
11:26here's my here's my postcard book and it was a pretty I'm lonely and I'm being you know they're
11:34they don't like me and so when he came home for Christmas we gave him the option we said it
11:41sounds
11:41like it's very tough and sometimes you're not happy and we want you to know that you can make a
11:48choice
11:48to stay you don't have to go back and he was furious that we even suggested that
11:56and so I'm not sure this was the right parenting but I said okay then enough with the lousy postcards
12:07you change your tone but David had only ever wanted to be at one company the renowned powerhouse
12:15of classical and 20th century dance the american ballet theatre and when I moved to new york it's as
12:23if the dream had come true but I was blindingly ambitious and I wanted to become a star so what
12:33did
12:33you learn there how how was your your craft honed and changed again at abt there is a an enormous
12:42transition from a school kid training like a soldier like I did to a professional making
12:50your own decisions as an artist having your own discipline there's not a teacher behind you saying
12:55do this do that so it wasn't so much in terms of technique but it was more in terms of
13:01performance
13:02in terms of how I'm going to be a professional on stage for an audience
13:10Misty you were young dancers together at the american ballet theatre when did you realize that
13:14he was something special from the moment I saw him there's an intention and there's a focus um that's
13:22different from a lot of young dancers that David had apart from his beautiful lines and his feet and
13:27all you know all of those things um that I was immediately drawn to what was he like as a
13:32partner
13:32you know David is um is someone I think who is always really curious and eager to learn
13:46it's important to remember just how incredibly successful you were though you were a celebrated
13:52dancer and artist and then the bolshoi ballet comes calling to an american dancer that never happens
14:01it never happens but it happened it happened and I was completely taken off guard
14:12when it was announced that I was going to the bolshoi I mean you know it it was it was
14:17all over the news it
14:18was you know it was I just felt this this immense pressure in this very traditional uh performance
14:28and production of the sleeping beauty from the bolshoi ballet it clearly requires from you all of your
14:34most life artistry in order to to bring to life the boldness that you talk about and the grand steps
14:42and
14:42those incredible turns that you've got to do shall we have a look
15:11how does that make you feel watching that uh how did I ever do that
15:16also I did that on a sprained ankle I this was the telecast um you know going to cinemas around
15:24the world grandma was watching me in Indiana uh and my second jump in my entrance I sprained my ankle
15:37so I was doing that through the sheer grit of pain and determination um but
15:48I knew the moment that was the moment and I could not fail you had to deliver because this is
15:56the sequence
15:57I had to deliver
15:58David was just a one-off he was a prince from I think he probably came out of the you
16:09know
16:09the birth canal as a ballet prince he he just had this incredible elegance and
16:17and intellect he was a really curious and clever dancer and every time I saw him dance he just got
16:26better and
16:26better so he he really it wasn't quick he really worked hard and so when he did you know finally
16:36emerge it was a fully formed you know artist
16:45to me like he is just like the epitome of ballet in the in the in the best way you
16:52know I think he just
16:52brought an elegance and a power and an honesty um to all of the roles that he portrayed
17:10David was an international star in one year he flew 75 000 miles dancing with all the great companies
17:19including as a guest of the Australian ballet but something wasn't right
17:25so you're riding high and you're dancing the great roles on all the great stages
17:29but there was that sprain there was one other sprain as well and at this point you start to
17:34feel that persistent nagging itch well I think the ambition I had in my career yeah
17:41I wasn't going to let anything get in the way even injury until I couldn't
17:47that's that blind driven aspect of being you and being a dancer blind and it got me to great places
17:57and I I'm so I'm you know I'm so honored to dance where I danced but I did pay an
18:05ultimate price
18:07David had a torn deltoid ligament in his left foot he underwent surgery but after his rehabilitation
18:14failed to improve him David reluctantly went back for a second surgery shockingly that didn't work
18:22either I could barely walk and I was living in Manhattan you know trudging up and down subway
18:28stairs and on crutches and I really felt like oh my god you never think you'll be the one to
18:38have a
18:38career-ending injury and I felt like I had my career in my hands and it was slipping through my
18:45hands
18:47David had run out of road but he hoped that one ballet company at the other end of the world
18:53might be his salvation I had guested with the company before fell in love with the Australian
19:00Ballet the company the country and everyone knew that the medical department at the Australian Ballet was
19:07the best in the dance world he rang and said I want to come and work with you know your
19:12team and I
19:13said yep when can you get on a plane how can how soon can you get on that plane when
19:19he arrived I
19:19mean first of all he'd you know like done a buzz cut on his head he looked like he looked
19:25you know
19:26not like the David Halberg that we all knew yeah he wasn't a prince anymore well yeah he was sort
19:32of you
19:32know grunge punk prince the work was going to be hard and for it to succeed David had to surrender
19:42in all David was in rehab in Melbourne for 14 months and off the stage entirely for two and a
19:50half years
19:51when I started in the studio I closed all the windows I went into a shell I didn't want anyone
19:57watching me and this was this kind of resistance of like I don't want people to see me in this
20:02state
20:04and when I finally opened the blinds I had to completely give myself over to the team and find
20:11a new way of of dancing and they got you back on your feet and you got yourself back on
20:18your feet with
20:19them and you you returned to dancing I did I put in the work but I could not have done
20:25it without them
20:25did it make you a better dancer I was never the same it made me better in terms of knowledge
20:39but I know now that I was never the same dancer I've never doubted that David would come back
20:51in a way that um he would still make an impact to me it was whether or not he'd want
20:57to um whether or
20:59not that was what he thought his next step should be is it to come back and and continue on
21:05this path
21:05or is it to do something else and he's thinking about what else can I do with what dance has
21:12given me
21:20the next turn in David's phenomenal career came about when his good friend an artistic director
21:26of the Australian Ballet made a big decision David McAllister shared with me that he was ready to
21:33leave after 20 years and he took me aside and said I think you're the next person to run this
21:41company
21:42and I like the Bolshoi offer I was in shock I went through the interview process put my best foot
21:53forward
21:54and was given the phone call and without question accepted did it feel in part like repaying a debt
22:05it absolutely did it felt full circle right it felt like now is my time to give to this company
22:12because
22:13this company gave me so much when he was appointed I just went oh my god this is going to
22:21be exciting
22:22and from the very first day it's just been joyous actually to see the company do all those things that
22:31I
22:31knew was the reason why I stopped I had to go to let someone get in and really just take
22:38these beautiful
22:38dances and shape them in a different way under David's leadership the Australian Ballet is producing
22:45some of its most critically acclaimed work balancing the classics against much more challenging repertoire
22:53I think just a year after you started and you brought to Australia kunstkammer which is the
22:58landmark piece that the netherland dance theater had commissioned for themselves for their 60th
23:03anniversary and it was choreographed by four great choreographers wasn't it yeah Paul Lightfoot
23:09Sol Leon Crystal Pite and Mark Ogeke so this is a an incendiary piece and I've got to say I'd
23:16never seen
23:16them work to such a standard of energy and attack and strength of line
23:32those four choreographers are on the bucket list of almost every ballet dancer huh they were just like
23:40we're doing what it was rapturously received that must have felt very gratifying because you were
23:47taking the company and yourself out on a limb with that one I was but I was convinced that the
23:54dancers
23:54would love the ride and those gut instincts were correct and then off you went you're commissioning
24:02pieces uh about Oscar Wilde Christopher Wealdon's piece for the Australian Ballet which was so unusual
24:09because it was a an alternately tragic and then joyous representation of queer life within the the
24:19context of ballet which is always you know relentlessly heterosexual I played a straight man my entire career
24:27yep in my personal life I am not a straight man I was never given the opportunity to express
24:34that kind of love on stage yeah and the dancers of the company were so proud to embody portray
24:46queer experiences on stage honesty on stage
24:54how would you characterize the company of dancers under David I just think that he's got a great eye
25:00for talent and he's got a really unique ability to just impart his knowledge to to the dancers in a
25:10way
25:10that doesn't make them look like they're trying to be him
25:21front first we go demi plie close other leg close roll through six seven eight
25:32side
25:35and first and fifth in this room is it about honing the skills is it also about somehow becoming an
25:42artist
25:43in the practice room or does that happen on the stage through rehearsal that happens but there's
25:51always this moment on stage that you can never find in the studio and that's the moment of live
25:56performance yeah that's the beauty I think of this art form is that it only happens once
26:01but that that that can only get you there by all of these infinite intricate little steps that will
26:08take you there that start at the bar with the tendu with the plie show me show me your plie
26:13there
26:14David starts with that and then all builds up into the the greatest leap when I was um being coached
26:22at Bolshoi by this fabulous coach Sasha Vetrov he told me he wants to see me
26:29exert 120 percent in the studio so then when you get on stage you're so
26:36accustomed to this adrenaline that you can just simply let go let yourself go
26:46on the other side though what about it do you miss of that height of performance i miss
26:55the adrenaline after a show yeah i was terribly nervous as a performer i was in my mind even on
27:04stage will i get this here comes this lift here comes this turn here comes the solo it was always
27:11with a sense of dread but when i would finish a show and the show went relatively well it was
27:18um that
27:18i had adrenaline and and if i'm honest a cold beer in the dressing room after david no wonder you
27:26ended
27:26up in australia with an attitude like that i know i know um aussie before i knew i was aussie
27:33are you surprised he's gone on to become an artistic director of a company himself
27:38i am not i'm not at all i just feel like um david has always been a leader um i
27:44you know i can just
27:45remember from from the time we were teenagers and the way that he walks in a room um the things
27:50that
27:50are that matter to him and how he speaks up and kind of advocates for uh his people you know
27:56as
27:56dancers i started that first applause yeah you deserved it and i think what he's done though he's
28:05he's bought that you know layer to the company but they haven't lost that exuberant australian
28:13energy you know you still can tell it's the australian ballet but it's the australian ballet with
28:19a bit of buff and polish i just see what i inherited and i'm just twisting it and altering it
28:28and asking
28:29for more and asking for different um so we have gone off the edge a bit but i don't want
28:38this company
28:38to ever lose that sense of warmth and and and australian uh humility really uh on the stage to their
28:48audiences
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