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.

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