Ty King-Wall has recently been crowned the newest and youngest principal of the Australian Ballet. He spoke to Karen van Ulzen.
When I meet Ty King-Wall for this interview, he's tired. But it's not because he's been dancing all night. It's because he was up till five in the morning completing an essay. At 26, this young man has worked his way to the top of the Australian Ballet while at the same time studying for a university degree. It appears he is not just a beautiful dancer, but a smart one too.
Not at all, he protests: "It's taken me forever. People keep saying, are you still doing that degree?"
In keeping up a study course, not matter how slowly, King-Wall is an example of today's classical ballet dancer - dedicated but not obsessed to the exclusion of all outside life, working hard but with a sensible eye on life after dance, all too aware of the brevity of the dancer's career.
That doesn't mean that dancers like King-Wall are not passionate about their artform. Quite the opposite. It means that they somehow manage to achieve great heights in one demanding career while at the same time preparing for another. "He's diligent and passionate," says his on-stage partner Leanne Stojmenov, "He's always one of the group that uses the break after class to stay back and work on things, bettering himself."
He may have learnt his self-discipline at home. Born in Waihi, NZ, he and his two siblings were home-schooled. His mother was a kindergarten teacher; his father a PE teacher. The homeschooling suited him because he could fit his studies around his dancing lessons as he became more serious. "Not that I neglected my studies - in fact a condition of my coming and studying at the Australian Ballet School was that I had to finish my Year 12 first."
This an extract from a full interview with Ty King-Wall in the Aug/Sep issue of Dance Australia. Buy it from your favourite dance shop or newsagent or click here to subscribe!