Where were you born?
I was born in Townsville, Queensland.
What were your parents’ occupations?
Both my parents are teachers. I am still surprised that they supported my decision to drop out of school to dance full-time. They have given me so much to get me to where I am. I wish they could see me dance more.
How many siblings and do any of them dance or have artistic occupations?
I have three older brothers and one younger sister. My brothers are all very smart guys. They work in mathematics and IT. My sister is currently in her final year at the Dramatic Arts division of the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. She has always been very into performance arts. She has danced, acted in plays and sung in musicals.
When did you get the dance bug?
I have always enjoyed dancing as I was growing up. However, I never considered it a career option – I wanted to be a graphic designer. Even when I went down to Newcastle, I thought I might dance for a couple of years to see where it would lead me to.
It wasn’t until I had the opportunity to compete in the Genee International Ballet Competition, in Sydney, that my attitude to dance completely changed. There were dancers from all over the world.
I think we get very isolated in Australia. In Europe and the US, there are lots more ballet companies and it is much easier for young dancers to see professionals perform and to mix with other students from different backgrounds. It was great to be surrounded by people from all these different places.
It was the contingent of guys from the Royal Ballet School that made the biggest impression on me. Seeing the things they could do. Seeing them work together on their work really made me want to be like them. It was then that I knew that I had to dance and that I would do everything I could to make it happen.
What is your first memory of dancing?
My first memory of dancing is of being in a HUGE gymnasium at a local high school where the Ann Roberts School of Dance held classes on a Saturday. It was so big that you could run three classes at once in different corners of the space – each marked out with little plastic athletic cones.
I remember sitting on the floor in Primary class doing foot exercises and polka-ing around the room in partners – even had to hold hands with a girl (not something you do at that age!)
What was your first public performance (this can be for family, friends, etc, not necessarily professional)?
My first public performance was in the end-of-year concert in my first year of ballet. I was a Chinese lantern. I had sky blue Chinese costume with gold stars and moons on it. I even had a gold coolie hat. I don’t remember any of the choreography now or even what it felt like to be in front of people. But I must have got something out of it because I kept dancing since.
The first time I performed a solo in front of people was in the demi-character section of the Townsville Eisteddfod. I was the knave of hearts and I stole the tarts. My dad made the window with a windowsill from which I stole them.
I remember practising on our verandah at home – not the ideal floor, as there were lots of splinters. For the actual performance, my mum made real cupcakes and topped them with mounds of whipped cream so that when I got to the end of the solo and was getting away with the tarts I would trip and fall. The cream ended all over my face.
We didn’t practise that bit and consequently I was so shocked that the look on my face must have been priceless. I wish there was a photo. One a side note – the cupcakes still tasted great!
When you moved to Newcastle then again to Melbourne at the National Theatre – was it solely to pursue your studies or were they family moves?
I moved to Newcastle when Marie Walton-Mahon offered me a scholarship to train full-time. I was 16 and it was the first time I had lived away from home. I lived with a very supportive family for the first year I was there and then moved into my own place the second year.
I did odd jobs for people and worked for a local deli to earn some money and even tutored one of the younger students in maths for a free meal. Not that my parents weren’t supportive – they were wonderful – I was just not very good at budgeting.
I never officially attended the National Theatre Ballet School as a student. It is the school of my fiancée and we would return to train there in the American summer. I would take classes there every day for a couple of months a year and then go away and apply everything I had learned during the performance season. I wouldn’t have become the dancer I am today if it weren’t for those couple of months a year.
What was your first big break into a professional career?
One of the purposes of the Ajkun Ballet Theatre summer program was to find young dancers, who were ready, jobs. Like an agent of sorts. One day, one of the directors came in and told me I was going to make an audition video and send it off to a company in California who needed a male dancer.
It all happened so fast. Within two days they had choreographed a solo for me (looking back it was 
definitely way too hard for me at that point), taken a few photos and sent it off. A couple of days after that, I landed my first job.
I was not expecting anything like that to happen and already had plans to attend a school in Europe so I had to choose between the two. I obviously took the job and went off to California a couple of weeks later.
How would you describe American audiences?
American dance audiences are wonderful. They are not afraid to show their appreciation. Elsewhere I have found that the prevailing view is that dance is a very high art form and must therefore be treated with so much respect that the audience must sit there in silence without moving a muscle.
As a dancer on stage, it feels so much better when you can feel the audience there with you the whole time. You support each other – you give each other energy. American audiences really get into it. They will even drop off gifts to the dancers. In Sacramento Ballet the spirit was so great that people would bring in treats for the dancers and leave them on the table for us. They just loved the ballet so much!
Tell us about the life style in Singapore? What sort of accommodation do you live in? What are the studios like?
The lifestyle here in Singapore is great. Because it is such a melting pot of nationalities you can get experience a whole range of different Asian cultures in only a short train ride. As an English speaking country it is also very easy for a westerner get around. However, there is always something new to learn, a different food to try or a different festival to enjoy.
One of the biggest downsides is the rent. It is so expensive here that even as a senior artist I can only afford to rent a room and share with other people. At the moment I live in one of the old heritage shop-houses near Chinatown. It is such a beautiful place to live in though – it is so old and has so much history.
Before this, I was living in a room in one of the Housing Development Board buildings. There are so many of them. They are produced en mass and the majority of Singaporeans live in them. They are all designed as little communities. Everyone is in easy reach of transport and shops and it’s a very convenient way to live.
Up until last year, Singapore Dance Theatre’s studios were in the middle of the city, in a park, on a hill in a historic building. We had no air conditioning and occasionally had to stop rehearsal because a thunderstorm was so loud we couldn’t hear the music or a large wasp was floating through the studio. It certainly had its upsides (like being virtually outdoors) and its downsides (like the hundred or so steps we had to ascend every day) but it made for a very unique experience.
Last year though, Singapore Dance Theatre moved into new studios. They are state of the art facilities. Everything is shiny and new. We have more space to move and they are generally much cleaner due to the fact they are indoors. We haven’t totally lost the connection to the outside as we are situated on the top floor of a mall with a sky park. We can still go and walk amongst the frangipani trees – just seven storeys up.
How do you like the heat?
It took awhile to get used to the fact that it is constantly hot. I don’t notice it so much anymore. One of the shows we do yearly iscalled Ballet Under the Stars. It is an outdoor performance. I have never felt warmer, than dancing outside under stage lights during the hottest part of the Singapore summer.
It takes a different level of preparation to stay hydrated during something like that. You have to make sure you are drinking water at every opportunity. Quick changes are also made drastically more difficult by the fact that you just don’t stop sweating!
Culturally, have you had to adjust? (Please give an example, such as temperament, traditions, manners, food you’ve had to learn about.)
There are obviously many cultural differences between Australia and the predominantly Chinese Singapore. One of the first things you must learn is how to order a local coffee. There is a whole different way of taking coffee over here – for a start it’s called Kopi.
I like my local coffee with milk and a little sugar so I ask for a “Kopi C Siew Dai”. This translates to “coffee with evaporated milk less sweet”. It took a bit of trial and error to figure this out. In the end I got an application on the phone to figure out what it all meant. I still enjoy watching tourists trying to figure it out.
What has been your most challenging role to date (and why?). (Please give no more than two examples.)
I think the most challenging role I have danced recently would be the male solo in Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena. The piece is a melding of contemporary with African dance to music that is a mix of Bach and African singing and drumming. It was because of this mix of styles that I found it difficult.
The African component involved isolating parts of the body in a way that I hadn’t encountered before. I am used to getting the choreography into my body and having it feel good. I just couldn’t achieve that with this solo. It always felt like I was fighting myself with it.
I thought there was no way it could look good either but when I finally saw the video, I was thankfully, wrong. It did look pretty cool. We have just put Lambarena back together for our upcoming tour and the solo feels much better. It just took a year for it to settle.
One of the other parts I have found difficult was the lead role in George Balanchine’s Apollo. As dancers we are used to playing peasants and princes but it is a very different matter to be a god.
It took a lot of thought and work to find that place of calm power that the role needs. I was much younger then and not so confident of myself. I would love to perform it again now with more years of experience under my belt.
What has been a highlight?
I have really enjoyed so many things in my career. There are so many roles I’ve done that are very special to me that it’s hard to pick just one. I have been very fortunate that I have been able to do a lot of my best dancing with my fiancée Heidi. A couple of years ago we performed the lead roles in Stanton Welch’s Maninyas – that is a moment that stands out to me. It is so special to share the stage with someone you love.
I really enjoy creating new works with choreographers. It is a great feeling when you “click” with a choreographer and the ideas just flow and working is an absolute pleasure. I have only really found this with three choreographers throughout my career. Creating Nils Christe’s Organ Concerto, re-working Toru Shimizaki’s Absence of Story and working with Natalie Weir on this most recent pas de deux have all been highlights for me.
Do you have a pre-performance ritual?
I don’t have a very strict pre-performance ritual. It depends on the particular roles I am doing. I do find, however, that during the time in the theatre, the normal routine goes out the window and I end up not eating enough. Consequently I really try to eat as much as a can in the lead up to the shows so I don’t get half-way through a full length and then realise I have nothing left in the tank.
What word(s) would you use to describe your feet?
My feet? Serviceable. I was not gifted with the best feet, the highest legs or the best turns. I have never viewed this as a disadvantage though, as it has forced me to reach for new heights in the talents I have got, like movement quality and performance.
I know ballet teachers always say you need to work on the things that you need to improve but don’t forget to make the things you are good at better. It is going to be those things that make you special.
Footnotes:
BORN: Townsville, Queensland
STUDIED: Ann Roberts School of Dance, Marie Walton-Mahon Dance Academy and National Theatre Ballet School
DANCED: City Ballet of San Diego and the Sacramento Ballet.
This article was first published in Dance Australia, June/July 2014.
Main photo by Tan Ngiap Heng.
Second photo credit to nicolethen studio.