Steven Heathcote AM (b. 1964), dancer, is The Australian Ballet's longest-serving principal artist from 1987 to 2007. Heathcote took up dancing at age nine after seeing a production of The Nutcracker. After training in Perth and at The Australian Ballet School, he joined The Australian Ballet in 1983. From the late 1980s he made guest appearances with companies such as the Kirov Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre, the Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. Various Australian choreographers created parts around him, including Graeme Murphy (The Nutcracker, Swan Lake), Stephen Page (Alchemy, Totem), Natalie Weir (Mirror Mirror) and Stanton Welch (Madame Butterfly, Corroboree, Cinderella). Following his retirement in 2007, he appeared in the film Mao's Last Dancer (2009), directed a new production of Julius Caesar for Victorian Opera, and choreographed Tosca for Opera Australia. Since 2014 he has been Ballet Master at The Australian Ballet.
Julian Kingma's photograph of Heathcote was a finalist in the 2007 National Photographic Portrait Prize. 'Steven Heathcote will be remembered historically as one of the best principal dancers in the Australian Ballet. He has captured my attention for years and since he has recently retired I thought it important to photograph him away from the ballet in the quiet intimacy of the studio. In this portrait, Stephen expresses dignity and grace. He is a true artist.'
National Photographic Portrait Prize 2007 Finalist
Gift of Julian Kingma 2008
© Julian Kingma
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