David Hallberg

David Hallberg is a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet, principal guest artist with The Royal Ballet, and resident guest artist with The Australian Ballet. He is the author of a critically acclaimed memoir, A Body of Work: Dancing to the Edge and Back. Hallberg made history in 2011, when he became the first American to join the Bolshoi Ballet under the title premier dancer.

Hallberg has danced every major fulllength classical ballet, along with works by the major choreographers of the 20th and 21st centuries. He performed as a guest artist with the Mariinsky Ballet, the Paris Opera Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, the Tokyo Ballet, Teatro Colon Buenos Aires, Kiev Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Opera di Roma, and Georgian State Ballet, among others.

In November 2011, Hallberg performed The Sleeping Beauty, the first ballet performance to reopen the newly renovated Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, an event that was broadcast through cinemas to 60 countries around the world. He won the prestigious Benois de la Danse Prize for Best Male Dancer (2010) for his performance as Albrecht in Giselle with American Ballet Theatre. He established the David Hallberg Scholarship to mentor aspiring male dancers at American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company and Ballet Arizona. Hallberg has also created and directed for ABT INCUBATOR, a workshop encouraging creation by emerging choreographers. In 2021, Hallberg became the eighth Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet.