David McAllister joins National Portrait Gallery
David McAllister AM, artistic director of the Australian Ballet has been captured in a portrait by Australian photographer Peter Brew-Bevan. The image was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery for its national collection.
Peter Brew-Bevan sought to capture David’s career and passion for dance in the portrait. “Taking compositional inspiration from Matisse’s ‘the Dance’ I wanted to create a portrait that not only represented David as the widely respected creative genius I knew but also as the zen-like person that I discovered upon meeting him and working with,” he says. “From the original concept of David as a central figure surrounded by beautiful choreographed fury representing his incredible performances, as the shoot progressed my attention was drawn to David’s focus on the rings on his right hand. After uncovering the story/meaning behind the ring, I knew that this needed to be the moment that captured David as a grounded figure in amongst his work.
“I have always admired David’s creativity and in the lead up to and on the day of shooting, the ease of the collaboration and meeting of minds flowed seamlessly through to each individual capture that have merged to create the final portrait. It was truly one of the most amazing and refreshingly creative and effortless shoots that I have had the pleasure of producing.”
To accompany the portrait, the National Portrait Gallery has also commissioned a dance work, choreographed by Anca Frankenhaeuser, Patrick Harding-Irmer, Julia Cotton and Elle Cahill. Inspired by McAllister’s career, the work is entitled Dances for David.
Dances for David was performed at Darling Hall last weekend and will be performed again Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 October at 1pm and 3pm. Booking are not necessary.