Simon Plant
Simon began his dance training at the age of seven in his birth city of Sydney, Australia. In 2009 he was accepted into The Australian Ballet School in Melbourne where he received his Certificate III in Dance. In 2011, Simon spent a year of full-time training at Jason Coleman’s Ministry of Dance. That year Simon was awarded first prize at the Dance Around the World Solo competition during the Australian Dance Festival, which included a return ticket to Los Angeles and an unlimited pass for classes at The Edge, Hollywood. He has worked on various corporate and promotional dance initiatives as well as featuring in the cast of Boylesque – a cabaret themed show at The Greyhound Hotel, St Kilda. He also performed with Melbourne based contemporary dance company RickStix Productions in their inaugural season of Release.
In 2012, Simon returned to The Australian Ballet School to complete his studies under The Pratt Foundation’s full-scholarship grant, awarded to him by the School’s then Artistic Director Marilyn Rowe OBE. During his final year at the school, Simon danced the male soloist role in Natalie Weir’s Jabula, the principal role of Kai in Petal Miller-Ashmole’s The Snow Queen as well as the lead in Continuum, a new piece choreographed by The Australian Ballet School’s resident contemporary choreographer Margaret Wilson for the School’s Graduate Exhibition 2013. That same year saw Simon perform with The Dancers Company, the regional touring arm of the Australian Ballet, in the world premiere season of Simon Dow’s Rimbombo.
Simon graduated with Honours and joined the Australian Ballet in 2014 under Artistic Director David McAllister AM, and has since danced in works by a variety of world-renowned choreographers, both Australian and international. Performance highlights include the male trio in Wayne McGregor’s Chroma; Jack-in-the-box as well as the Chinese and Cossack divertissements in Sir Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker; Beggar in Kenneth MacMillian’s Manon; Performer in Stanton Welch’s La Bayadère; and a new contemporary work by resident choreographer Tim Harbour, Filigree & Shadow. In October 2015, Simon toured to China with the Australian Ballet to perform in Graeme Murphy’s critically acclaimed Swan Lake.
In 2016, Simon embarked on a freelance career, taking on various forms of work in the dance field. In October he appeared in the Australian Ballet’s Regional Tour, performing the Peasant Pas in Giselle.
Simon will perform in Crazy Times at the Sydney Opera House from 14-18 March 2017.