Growing Up in Dance: Dominic Ballard
Soloist Dominic Ballard was born into ballet. “My mom had a school for as long as I can remember,” he said. “She would make ballets for her students, Grandma sewed the costumes, Grandfather would make the sets, and my sisters, dad, and I danced.”
Ballard excelled in tap dance, jazz, and musical theatre, then at age 12, started taking ballet more seriously, with the goal of becoming a professional ballet dancer. He grew up in Albury, New South Wales in Australia, then trained at the Australian Ballet School during his teen years, but the move was a difficult time for him.
“It was challenging to move from my relatively small, suburban beginnings, into a major capital city in Australia,” he said. “Being a country kid is actually wonderful, but it can be really intimidating to enter this elite national institution.”
How Ballet Became A Career
At age 18, with the support of his family, he left for Europe and spent three months auditioning for professional companies. Ballard received many “nos,” but eventually got a “yes,” which led him to a professional ballet career with the National Ballet of Slovakia.
“I was young and had a lot to learn, but I was just so excited,” Ballard said. “This was the dream. I was in a real ballet company.”
He later joined the Philadelphia Ballet in 2016, then Ballet West in 2017 and was promoted to Demi-Soloist in 2022. Last summer, he received another promotion to Soloist. Since his promotion, Ballard has embraced challenging roles including Dr. Jekyll in Jekyll and Hyde and Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour.
“Dominic is an elegant performer and a tireless worker. He cares deeply about his art and gives everything he has to every role, either theatrically or technically.” —Adam Sklute Ballet West Artistic Director
“Jekyll and Hyde was a leading role in a full-length story ballet,” he said. “That was completely new for me. I could sink my teeth into it in terms of characterization and research, and inner dialogue. I love all that stuff.”
This season’s Nutcracker marked a crucial period in Ballard’s growth. For the first time, he performed all three major pas de deux (Snow, Waltz of the Flowers, and the Grand Pas de Deux) with more performances than ever before.
Ballard credits resilience and camaraderie for his success. “I’ve made mistakes. I’ve failed steps or lifts on stage before, and it’s soul crushing,” he said. “But you have to show up again the next day and try again.”