David Hallberg
David Hallberg
David Hallberg is an American classical ballet dancer. He is a principal dancer for the Bolshoi Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, and became the first American to become a principal dancer with the Bolshoi in 2011. Hallberg was invited by Sergei Filin, Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director to join as either a guest artist or principal. Part of his decision to join was made, in part, to dance with ballerina Natalia Osipova with whom he has danced previously...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionDancer
Date of Birth18 May 1982
CountryUnited States of America
I have one coach and one coach only. His name is Alexander Vetrov. They brought him in for me when I joined the Bolshoi. He was a dancer with the Bolshoi, and we work very intensely together.
Ballet needs figures that people can recognize and relate to. People don't know ballet dancers as well as they know other artists.
I walk like a duck: very straight up and down. Or like a penguin. It's a dead giveaway that I'm a dancer.
I love the dancers in the Bolshoi, but all of my Moscow friends are outside the company. A friend introduced me to Vika Gazinskaya, a well-known Russian designer. I met her group. The rest is history.
There are certainly some artists in New York that I would love to work with. One is Sarah Michelson.
When I went to Moscow, I felt I was relearning Swan Lake - which was written for the Bolshoi - and being immersed in a tradition and history I had never experienced. It took a while to adjust to living there and learning the language, but now I have lots of friends. I get the best of two completely different worlds.