David Hallberg Returns to the American Ballet Theater After a Two and a Half Year Injury

American Ballet Theater Principal Dancer, David Hallberg, will be returning to the company to perform after taking a hiatus for a two and a half years due to an injury. He will begin rehearsals for the spring repertory at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Hallberg said, "I feel really great physically. I feel I've been given a completely new education on how to approach my work, my physical instrument. I'm ready to step into the studio and start rehearsing."

Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, David Hallberg began jazz and tap classes at the age of ten. He began his formal ballet training at 13 with Kee Juan Han at the Arizona Ballet School in Phoenix where he studied intensively for four years. In 1999, he was accepted into the Paris Opera Ballet School where he continued his studies under the direction of Claude Bessy, Jacques Namont and Gilbert Meyer.

Hallberg attended American Ballet Theatre's New York Summer Intensive in 1999 and 2000 and was an ABT National Training Scholar for both of those years.

Hallberg joined ABT's Studio Company in September 2000 and then joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2001, was promoted to Soloist in January 2004 and Principal in May 2006. His roles with the Company include the Boy in Afternoon of a Faun, the title role in Apollo, The Awakening Pas de Deux, Solor in La Bayadère, the Ballet Dancer in The Bright Stream, the Prince in Frederick Ashton's Cinderella, Her Prince Charming in James Kudelka's Cinderella, Conrad in Le Corsaire, Basilio and Espada in Don Quixote, Oberon in The Dream, the second sailor in Fancy Free, Albrecht in Giselle, Death in The Green Table, Des Grieux in Lady of the Camellias, Beliaev in A Month in the Country, the Cavalier in Kevin McKenzie's The Nutcracker, Onegin in Onegin, Othello in Othello, Other Dances, A Friend of the Family in Pillar of Fire, Bernard and Jean de Brienne in Raymonda, Romeo, Paris and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Romeo's Farewell to Juliet), Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Siegfried, von Rothbart (Act III) and Benno in Swan Lake, James in La Sylphide, Aminta in Sylvia, the first movement in George Balanchine's Symphony in C, The Awakening Pas de Deux and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. He has danced leading roles in Ballet Imperial, Ballo della Regina, The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Clear, Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes, Duo Concertant, From Here On Out, Glow - Stop, Gong, Kaleidoscope, In the Upper Room, Meadow, the title role in Onegin, Petite Mort, Pretty Good Year, Seven Sonatas, Sinfonietta, Les Sylphides, Symphonic Variations, Theme and Variations and Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison and featured roles in Clear, Overgrown Path and workwithinwork. He created the title role in Robert Hill's Dorian, Kaschei in Alexei Ratmansky's Firebird, the Nutcracker Prince in Ratmansky's The Nutcracker, Olga's Fiancé in On the Dnieper and leading roles in Chamber Symphony, Citizen, Rabbit and Rogue and Thirteen Diversions.

During the Autumns of 2008 and 2009, Hallberg was a member of Kings of The Dance, which toured Russia, Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia. His repertoire included Frederick Ashton's Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Christopher Wheeldon's Four for 4, Nacho Duato's Remanso and Roland Petit's Proust pas de deux. Dance of the Blessed Spirits was originally created on Sir Anthony Dowell, who staged the ballet on Hallberg especially for this tour. Hallberg is the first dancer after Dowell to perform this work.

Hallberg has been a guest artist with many companies including the Royal Swedish Ballet, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and the Kiev Ballet. He has danced at galas throughout the world from Japan to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Hallberg was a recipient of the Princess Grace Fellowship and the Chris Hellman Dance Award for 2002-2003. He received a nomination for the Benois de la Danse Award in 2006 and won the Benois de la Danse Award in 2010.

David Hallberg joined the Bolshoi Ballet as a Premier Danseur in September 2011, the first American to join the company.

Mr. Hallberg's performances at American Ballet Theatre are sponsored by Avery and Andy Barth.