THE UPS AND DOWNS OF A DANCER’S LIFE
Queensland Ballet’s David Power has discovered first-hand the precarious nature of ballet and its effect on a dancer’s physical and mental health. He speaks with The Equity Magazine about the spinal injury which has laid him low and how he is working his way back to fitness, with the unstinting support of the company.
“Injuries are a huge part of any dancing career,” says Queensland Ballet First Company Artist David Power. “I think if you speak to any professional dancer, they will tell you managing injury is 90 per cent of the job.” David is reflecting on his most recent injury, which has left him with a broken spine.
“I actually did this one on stage,” he says. “We had just opened Sleeping Beauty at the Lyric Theatre. I was rehearsing on the first Tuesday back after opening weekend. I went off for a jump and fractured a part of the L5 vertebra in my lumbar spine. I didn’t know it had happened at the time. I obviously felt a lot of pain, but I kept dancing and it was only afterwards that I realised the severity of it. It’s amazing what the body can mask with adrenalin. Then I went to hospital for three days and I’ve been in bed ever since.”
David’s recovery involves seven weeks of bed rest, plus months of limited mobility and rehabilitation. “It’s been a pretty traumatic and intense few weeks,” he says. “I think it’s also been very difficult because I’m at a point in my career where I am just so happy with how I’m dancing and so proud of the work I’ve put into my craft.”
Brisbane-born David began dancing at the age of three. By 10 he was a season-pass holder for the Queensland Ballet, rarely missing a performance. “I had always loved dance and had always wanted to dance but I went through a really rough time being a dancer at an all-boys high school,” he says.
When he was 15, David received a place at the prestigious The Australian Ballet School in Melbourne, where he decided on a career as a professional dancer. After five years diligently honing his skills and technique, he was devastated not to receive a contract with The Australian Ballet on graduating in 2014. “At that point I had lived and breathed everything Australian Ballet. It was a huge blow.”
The following week, he was offered a Young Artist position with Queensland Ballet. “I really do believe that everything happens for a reason and I remember feeling like it was such a huge full-circle moment. It was exactly where I needed to be and where I wanted to be. I remember thinking that on my first day.”
David was promoted to Company Artist just a year after joining. In 2020, he was promoted to First Company Artist.
“I have worked so hard to be a part of this company and have the career that I’ve had, and I wouldn’t change it for anything. It really is a dream come true,” he says.
David’s roles have included the title role in Trey McIntyre’s Peter Pan, Prince Ivan in Liam Scarlett’s The Firebird and Mercutio in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet.
His usual rigorous daily routine includes a run, a morning Pilates session, a 90-minute technical class and two to four hours of rehearsals, often followed by a two-hour evening performance.
“The physical and mental demands of being a professional dancer are fairly extreme, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he says. “We are so lucky to be supported by a company like the Queensland Ballet, who really put an emphasis on our health and wellbeing. We have massages every week, and there are two physios, as well as strength and conditioning coaches and Pilates instructors.”
With David staring down the barrel of months off the stage, the company’s supportive environment is more important than ever.
“The Queensland Ballet have always been super-supportive of people who are going through injuries,” David says. “I have access to injury adjustment sessions with a psychologist, dieticians and our amazing physios, as well as the specialist I have now. I have felt so much love and support from my workplace during this whole process.”
David is a proud Equity member and represented his fellow dancers as a delegate when they negotiated a union agreement last year. “It was such a great process. We are so lucky, and I cannot say this enough, to have Michelle Rae [Equity Director] working with us. She’s a class act. It was an incredible experience to work with her and I’ve got a huge amount of admiration for her and what she does for performers.”
The dancers negotiated a collective agreement that includes major improvements to parental-leave provisions − allowing dancers to return part-time rather than full-time and regain their fitness, which was not previously possible − and to ‘continuous employment’, meaning dancers become permanent employees after a 12-month contract.
“When our first staff agreement was written in 2016, there would have been about 30 company dancers, with maybe five or six young artists, and now we have 60 dancers, including 12 young artists,” David says. “We needed this agreement to reflect that growth and I think we did that really well.
“It’s a tough time for all performing arts right now, and it will be for some time to come. I know how lucky I am to be contracted and earning a living from my craft 12 months of the year.”
David says his spinal injury has been a reminder of the precarious nature of dancing and how important it is to look after your mental health − every bit as much as your physical health. “It’s incredibly important to stay on top of mental health in an industry that is so high pressure and uncertain at the best of times. For me, a big part of that is having good support from my company, friends and family.”
Lizzie Franks is editor of The Equity Magazine.
