David McAllister AC

Vice President

A graduate of The Australian Ballet School, Perth-born David McAllister joined The Australian Ballet in 1983. David was promoted to Senior Artist in 1986 and to Principal Artist in 1989. In 1985 he won a Bronze Medal at the Fifth International Ballet Competition in Moscow, which saw him invited to return to the USSR as a guest artist where he made numerous appearances with the Bolshoi Ballet, the Kirov Ballet, the Georgian State Ballet and other companies.

In 1989 David was guest artist with The National Ballet of Canada, dancing John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet as well as Etudes and The Four Temperaments.

David has worked as a guest teacher with The Australian Ballet School, The Dancers Company, the RAD, the Cecchetti Society, Australian Institute of Classical Dance and various summer schools. David danced for the final time in Giselle on 24 March 2001 at the Sydney Opera House and became Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet in July 2001. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2004.

David was promoted to Companion of the Order of Australia in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday Honours and was also awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award by the Royal Academy of Dance in the same year.