A former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet, David Hallberg took over as artistic director of the Australian Ballet in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. He talks with Amanda Hooton about the shift from dancing to directing - the loneliness but also the liberation, how he misses the sweat but loves not having to think about how his foot is turned.
He discusses, too, the shock of taking the reins at a major arts company as performances were cancelled en masse, his favourite Melbourne coffee haunts, the juggle of balancing tradition and innovation - and what's planned for 2023. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Hallberg on the transition from top dancer to artistic director

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In this episode, we speak with retired Australian netball champion and TV presenter Liz Ellis, who was recently appointed chair of Netball Australia, following a series of crises. Netball was riven with issues last year, including a team departing the national league, a pay dispute with players, and the loss of critical national funding.
Hosting the conversation - about the many problems facing an otherwise popular sport that's played by millions of women and girls (and, increasingly, men and boys) around the country - is The Age sports reporter Carla Jaeger. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Liz Ellis on healing the wounds within netball

In this episode we speak with the chief executive of the Australian Academy of Science, Anna-Maria Arabia, who leads a growing band of people expressing concern about the evidence used to convict Robert Farquharson of the murder of his three sons.
The Victorian father drove his car, with the three boys inside, into a dam on Father’s Day, 2005, for which he is serving a 33 year sentence. Arabia unpicks the evidence used in his case and calls for better science to be presented in the legal system in general.
Hosting the episode is a journalist who’s spent months combing through the Farquharson evidence, Michael Bachelard, a senior writer with The Age. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Did Robert Farquharson kill his three sons? A science-led reappraisal

From The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, Trial by Water is a new investigative podcast series about Robert Farquharson, who has been locked up for decades for an unthinkable crime: murdering his three sons in a dam on Father’s Day, 2005.
Now scientists and lawyers are asking the question: did we get it wrong? And is this man in prison for a crime he didn’t commit?
Episode 1 will arrive on Saturday, June 1. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing: Trial by Water

In this episode we speak with documentary maker Ian Darling, whose latest movie - The Pool - is premiering at the Sydney Film Festival in June before a national cinema release. The film is a paean to Bondi Icebergs, a picturesque pool on the edge of Australia’s most famous beach.
Hosting this episode, which explores Darling's shift from stockbroking to filmmaking, the meditative nature of swimming, the eclectic 'Bergs community, and the trials and tribulations of a 12-month outdoor shoot, is Good Weekend editor, Katrina Strickland. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How the world-famous Bondi Icebergs pool became a literal life saver

In this episode we meet Rhanee Rego, the young Novocastrian who became interested in the case of Australia's "worst serial child killer", Kathleen Folbigg, when studying law. Six years later, Rego was instrumental in securing the release of Folbigg, who'd been jailed in 2003 for killing her four infant children. With Folbigg's convictions now quashed, Rego is working to secure what's expected to be one of the biggest compensation payouts in Australian legal history.
Hosting the conversation is Good Weekend senior writer, Tim Elliott. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Hallberg on the transition from top dancer to artistic director

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