A Few More Leaps, Then Heathcote Calls It A Day

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday May 1, 2007

Valerie Lawson

WHEN Steven Heathcote saw David McAllister at their Australian Ballet School audition he said to himself "Holy hell, I haven't got a chance. This guy's amazing."

McAllister, in turn, looked at Heathcote and thought "Shit, there's my time at the ballet school gone to God."

As it turned out, the school's director, Dame Margaret Scott, took both the boys from Perth, telling them straight after the audition they were "the right material" for the school.

"I thought, 'Wow. Material,"' Heathcote said, flashing a smile familiar to dance audiences from Sydney to St Petersburg.

Both men joined the Australian Ballet, became principal artists and were guest artists around the world. But whereas McAllister retired to become the company's artistic director, Heathcote, 42, has maintained an astoundingly long and starry career with it.

However, this month marks a big transition for Heathcote, who will quit all his major dancing roles after 24 years with the company, 20 of them as a principal artist.

No more Prince Charming, or Romeo or lovesick fools chasing sylphs, or any of those exhausting roles in the ballet canon.

After dancing in the next two Australian Ballet seasons, New Romantics and Bodytorque, it will be no more tights and ballet shoes. But it is not the tights but what is under the skin that had led to his decision, he said.

"I want to lead an active, healthy life beyond my dancing years, and I think that there is a point at which you run a risk of incurring long-term damage by pushing the envelope too long."

Like most dancers, Heathcote has chronic injuries. "At the moment it's the hip and impingement of the ankle," he said. "It's pretty much tibia bone on the top-of-foot bone. I've been jumping up and down on it for quite a while now. I've run out of padding."

As for his jump, "I don't feel as if I can get as much hang time as I used to. Any older basketball player would tell you that."

Heathcote will dance character roles, such as the magician Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker later his year, and in future the role of Monsieur GM in Manon, but he was not yet ready for the "silly little old man" parts such as Dr Coppelius, McAllister said.

Paying tribute to his colleague of almost 30 years, McAllister calls Heathcote "the ultimate Prince Charming".

"He was not a cardboard cut-out prince. There are so many facets to his career. He had that incredible appeal both physically and emotionally to the audience."

After Bodytorque, Heathcote will take a short break to learn real magic tricks for his role in The Nutcracker, and while he will still take class with the company, the long days in the rehearsal studios are over. He has taken his last big leap, and "You know what?", he said. "It feels like a forward step."

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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