David Hallberg's Directorial Role

Bad news first: David Hallberg had to cancel his spring season performances with American Ballet Theatre. He had surgery on his foot a few months ago, and apparently jumped back into things a little too quickly—so he’s taking the time to make sure his injury heals properly. This is a total bummer for all of us NYC ballet fans, who were looking forward to seeing his perfect technique light up the stage at the Met.

Hallberg flying in one of the Bolshoi’s studios (photo by Henry Leutwyler)

Now for the good news: Hallberg is serving as the dance director for the very first Festival of the Desert in Palm Desert, CA, which is happening today! Though he won’t dance in the festival, he’s helping to bring dance to an area that doesn’t usually attract a ton of starpower, and he’s doing it with style— New York City Ballet principal Maria Kowroski is slated to dance something by George Balanchine, while American Ballet Theatre principal Veronika Part will dance a more contemporary ballet piece by Lar Lubovich.

Hallberg’s cross-cultural ballet career (trained at the Paris Opéra Ballet School, currently dances with ABT and the Bolshoi Ballet) has helped him understand the importance of bringing art to different communities. “I want the Palm Springs area and Southern California to experience extremely high quality art in various disciplines,” he told Palm Springs Life magazine. We’re all about it—but heal up Hallberg! We want to see you back on the stage, too.