Artistic Council

Steven Heathcote - Artistic Council member

Steven Heathcote, who spent 24 years dancing with the Australian Ballet -- 20 of them as principal artist -- has received three Helpmann Awards, two Mo Awards and an Australian Dance Award for Outstanding Performance by an Individual. In 1991, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his services to dance.  

After retiring from the dance stage in 2007 as The Australian Ballet’s longest serving Principal Artist, Steven appeared in the 2009 feature film, Mao’s Last Dancer, directed by Bruce Beresford, and has been actively engaged in specialised coaching for dancers, public speaking, presenting and acting.

In 2010, Steven conceived and directed a new production of Handel’s Julius Caesar, for Victorian Opera. The year 2012 will see him return to opera as choreographer and assistant director to John Bell, for the Victorian Opera’s new production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress.

Guest appearances overseas have been with a variety of companies including:

• The Kirov Ballet in 1989, American Ballet Theatre in 1991 and 1993, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Ballet Nacional de Cuba, The Royal Danish Ballet, Kiev Ballet and Latvian National Ballet.
• He has had many roles created for him including leading parts in works by Australian choreographers such as Stephen Baynes (1914, Beyond Bach, Unspoken Dialogues), Graeme Murphy (Nutcracker, Swan Lake), Stephen Page (Alchemy, Totem), Natalie Weir (Mirror, Mirror) and Stanton Welch (Madame Butterfly, Corroboree, Cinderella).