Sometimes, there is no retiring. We may be in our 60s, long past our dancing peak and officially ex, former, etcetera; yet the passion remains. And then there’s all our experience; the insights, the understanding. Which makes you wonder: what if…?
Enter, David McAllister. Since leaving his post as the Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet at the end of 2020, he has reinvented himself as part of a trio of ‘international ballet consultants’ and found himself parachuted into interim-AD roles with two companies. Indeed, as we speak, he is at home in his native Perth holding the reins at the West Australian Ballet, preparing to hand the baton to one of his former charges, Leanne Stojmenov.
Reflecting on the company-hopping trajectory of his post-Australian Ballet life, and of his glad homecoming, he says, with a smile in his voice, “It’s been a fascinating coincidence, really.”
Here, though, we need to disentangle coincidence from luck, because the course McAllister has plotted since leaving the country’s leading dance industry post has been far from haphazard. Indeed, the so-called ‘retirement’ pivot began almost instantly. During a 2021 stint in Finland working on a production of Swan Lake, he got together with two similarly experienced colleagues and created To The Pointe.
As he recalls, “We didn’t particularly want to be directors anymore, but we still wanted to have a little gas in the tank. So, we started up this little company, and went about thinking about how we could support the next generation of directors and help companies to find them. Interestingly, that sort of morphed into helping the Finnish National Ballet find a new director, and it went from there.”
There is a short pause, before he adds, “This whole fifo ballet director thing was sort of a sideline to that.”
Together with Cynthia Harvey and Madeleine Onne, McAllister has been putting his knowledge and experience to work across the dance universe. Unlike the more typical organisational review process, where companies invite firms “like KPMG or Deloitte” to consult, To The Pointe is more creative. “It’s very hard to find people who can come in and do an artistic review,” McAllister notes.
Fast forward to 2023, and he found himself consulting with the Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB). “I was actually asked to help them look for an interim person, but as we were talking, they sort of said, ‘Actually, would you like to do the job?’ I hadn’t really thought about it, but, yeah.”
As it happens, he was keeping the seat warm for another of his old Australian Ballet principals, New Zealand born Ty King-Wall, now the serving AD of RNZB.
“And then, while I was in NZ, I got the call from WA,” McAllister reveals. “The thought of spending a year or so in Perth was quite appealing.”
Now, in the austral spring of 2025, almost five years after originally retiring, he is preparing to step back once more; this time for Stojmenov.
“The coincidence of both Ty and Leanne being appointed was more about what both those [company] boards wanted.”
There is, McAllister concedes, no hiding the Australian Ballet alum connection in both handovers. “There was some hesitancy because, you know, there was this thought that I was just going to go round and find jobs for all my former dancers,” he explains. “But that was actually not the point at all. In both organisations, we did some good, across the board consulting, and we also looked at what kind of director each organisation wanted. From there, we sort of helped them make their decisions.”
However, the fifo life is not limited to place holding. Being an interim AD is a complex role. “First and foremost, you’re looking after the dancers and the artistic vibrancy of the organisation; and also delivering the program of the previous director. Basically, keeping things artistically ticking over.”
More than merely staying connected to the industry, McAllister and his co-founders at To The Pointe share a deeper mission. Unpacking this, he begins, “It’s weird but…you don’t realise how much you learn in these jobs until you’re not doing them. When you’re in them, it feels like there’s always so much more to know. But also, you have to be really cognisant of the fact that if you keep doing these jobs, the next generation don’t get their opportunity. So, I feel like I’m in the phase of being, like, the champion of the next generation.”
As he prepares to make way for the West Australian Ballet’s newly appointed Artistic Director, the Perth born ballet boy is once again contemplating life after. “I’ve really enjoyed it, but…I sort of feel now that I’ve closed the virtuous circle by coming back to WA and handing over to Leanne. So, I feel like it’s my time to actually drift off into the ether.”
(Insert friendly reminder that he said much the same when we spoke in December 2020. Cue, knowing laughter.)
“I don’t think I’m going to be heading to the next ballet company. I’m looking forward to a glorious retirement,” he assures me.
This is followed by a beat of silence, before, unsurprisingly, “Then again, if somebody asks me to do something really exciting, I’m not going to say no.”
All of which means…watch this space.
By Paul Ransom of Dance Informa.
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