Ari Thompson

Introducing Ari

Ari was born in Brisbane and started learning ballet at the age of 13 with Shayne McCormick Ballet Centre in Ipswich. He has danced for some of the most prestigious ballet companies in Australia. At 15 years old Ari moved to Melbourne and joined the Australian Ballet School before returning to Brisbane to join The Queensland Ballet Pre-Professional Program. In 2015 he was accepted into the Jette Parker Young Artist Program, and then spent a year dancing with the Western Australian Ballet Company. He returned to Queensland Ballet in 2017 and was promoted to Company Artist.  

 

Repertoire Highlights  

• "Big stepsister" in Ben Stevenson’s Cinderella.  
• "Gercourt" in Liam Scarlett’s Dangerous Liaisons  
• "Elegy Man" in George Balanchine’s Serenade  
• "Pirate" in Trey McIntyre’s Peter Pan  
• "Witch" in Peter Schaufass’s La Sylphide  

Did you know… 

Before dancing, Ari was heavily into athletics. He began his ballet training after his athletics coach suggested he improve his flexibility in order to better his running stride. He instantly enjoyed his first class and decided to give up athletics and focus on ballet.  

 

“The secret to working hard is to dream big and keep having fun.”