Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, David Hallberg began jazz and tap classes at the age of ten. He began his formal ballet training at 13 with Kee Juan Han at the Arizona Ballet School in Phoenix where he studied intensively for four years. In 1999, he was accepted into the Paris Opera Ballet School where he continued his studies under the direction of Claude Bessy, Jacques Namont and Gilbert Meyer.
Hallberg attended American Ballet Theatre’s New York Summer Intensive in 1999 and 2000 and was an ABT National Training Scholar for both of those years.
Hallberg joined ABT’s Studio Company in September 2000 and then joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2001, was promoted to Soloist in January 2004 and Principal in May 2005. His roles with the Company include the Boy in Afternoon of a Faun, the title role in Apollo, Solor in La Bayadère, Prince Charming in Cinderella, Conrad in Le Corsaire, Basilio and Espada in Don Quixote, Oberon in The Dream, the second sailor in Fancy Free, Albrecht in Giselle, Death in The Green Table, the Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Othello in Othello, a Friend of the Family in Pillar of Fire, Bernard and Jean de Brienne inRaymonda, Romeo, Paris and Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet(Romeo’s Farewell to Juliet), Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Siegfried, von Rothbart (Act III) and Benno in Swan Lake, Aminta in Sylvia, the first movement in George Balanchine’s Symphony in C, the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and leading roles in Ballet Imperial, Ballo della Regina, Clear, Drink To Me With Thine Eyes, From Here On Out, Glow – Stop, Gong, Kaleidoscope, In The Upper Room, Meadow, Petite Mort, Pretty Good Year,Sinfonietta, Les Sylphides, Symphonic Variations, Theme and Variations and Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison. He also performed featured roles in Clear,Overgrown Path and workwithinwork. He created the title role in Robert Hill’s Dorian and leading roles in Citizen and Rabbit and Rogue.
Hallberg was a recipient of the Princess Grace Fellowship and the Chris Hellman Dance Award for 2002-2003. He received a nomination for the Benois de la Danse Award in 2006. Hallberg has guested and danced in galas throughout the world from Japan to the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, to name a few.
Hallberg is a frequent contributor to thewinger.com.
Julie Kent and David Hallberg 2009 from Indianapolis City Ballet on Vimeo.