David Mack
David began his training in Coffs Harbour with his twin sister in the early ’90s before moving to Melbourne for full-time studies. He trained at the Victorian College of the Arts, attaining his VCE at the Secondary School and then a Bachelor of Arts in Dance. In 2001 he was awarded the Norma De Gruchy Award for Most Talented Dancer.
After graduating, David worked with West Australian Ballet for two years before moving to London to dance with Rambert Dance Company. Here he featured in soloist roles in works by renowned choreographers such as Rafael Bonachela, Wayne McGregor, Christopher Bruce, Kim Brandstrup, Fredrick Ashton, Javier de Frutos and Michael Clark.
David then received an invitation by Javier de Frutos to join Phoenix Dance Theatre where the company toured to the Venice Biennale among other countries and received numerous awards for its repertoire. In 2008 David performed in a work by Dam Van Huynh Collision at The Place Prize in London where they were awarded audience favourite every night.
Before the birth of his first son in 2009, David returned to West Australian Ballet as a soloist under the direction of Ivan Cavallari and later Aurelien Scanella. David worked with many incredible choreographers and danced soloist roles in ballets such as Barry Moreland’s Afternoon of a Faun, Ivan Cavallari’s Pinocchio, John Cranko’s Onegin, Glen Tetley’s Voluntariesand Jiri Kylian’s Un Ballo.
After five years with WA Ballet, he moved on to Sydney Dance Company where he performed and was involved in the creation of much of the company’s current repertoire. In 2015, David worked with Rafael Bonachela and Visual artist/Composer Mira Calix during the Sydney Festival, performing in her installation Inside There Falls. Later that year David was nominated for an Helpmann Award for Best Male Dancer in William Forsyth’s Quintett and in 2016 was awarded both the Green Room Award for Best Male Dancer and the Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male for his performance in Quintett and Bonachela’s Frame of Mind.
During his career David has taught company classes for Australian Dance Theatre, Sydney Dance Company and Phoenix Dance Theatre. He has also led workshops and taught ballet and contemporary master classes at many dance institutions around Australia, New Zealand and the UK, including VCA and VCASS, Sydney Dance Company’s Pre-Professional Year, WA Ballet’s Winter School 2016, New Zealand School of Dance and the Northern School of Contemporary Dance.
David performed in Nude Live at the Art Gallery of NSW from 9-23 January 2017 as part of the Sydney Festival. In 2018 David will travel to Europe with the Company to perform as part of the European Tour.