But i obviously grew up watching him pursue a passion. My sister did a lot of gymnastics, a bit of dancing, and as a seven year old, i asked my father if i could have a go. I wanted to go to a dance lesson, and my mother and father didn t even question any of it bearing in mind we didn t go to the theatre, we didn t go to galleries, or. . . I was not exposed to the arts. But they found a local school around the corner, and we now can fully appreciate that little local school had some of the best teachers you could ever come across. And you had this very rapid rise through your teens. You performed at the opening ceremony of the sydney olympics, and then you started to win international ballet competitions. The first teachers i had unleashed this tiger within me. So, then it was when i was about 13 or 14, which again shows you just how incredible my first teachers were, that they felt they d taken me so far, and it was time to hand me on they introduced me to my teacher in sydney, h
Steven mcrae, welcome to hardtalk. We re here at the royal ballet and opera in london, which has been your professional home for many years now, and you re about to go back on stage as the mad hatter in alice s adventures in wonderland. Tell me first how this adventure began for you, the world of ballet. Because you grew up far away from here. Yes. So i grew up in the outskirts of sydney, australia. Probably the furthest you could possibly get from the royal opera house here in london. I grew up in a motorsport family. My father was a drag racer. My father was an incredibly clever man who would create any parts with his own bare hands that he couldn t afford to purchase or to import. But i obviously grew up watching him pursue a passion. My sister did a lot of gymnastics, a bit of dancing, and as a seven year old, i asked my father if i could have a go. I wanted to go to a dance lesson, and my mother and father didn t even question any of it. Bearing in mind we didn t go to the theatre