Rachael Walsh —

Rachael Walsh was a Principal Dancer at Queensland Ballet for 13 years of her 17-year professional dance career. Following her retirement from the stage in July 2014, she continues to work with the Company in business development, and as a mentor and coach for dancers in Australia.

Rachael graduated from The Australian Ballet School and joined Queensland Ballet in 1998. She was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2003.

During her career with the Company, she has performed a diverse range of principal roles in classical and contemporary ballets, and enjoyed many works being created upon her by Australian and international choreographers. Rachael was awarded several scholarships to travel and study overseas, including a Lord Mayor’s Fellowship.

In addition to performing the ballerina roles in many classical ballets, including Giselle, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and The Nutcracker, Rachael has enjoyed the creative process and collaboration during the making of character-driven dramatic ballets such as Carmen, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Little Mermaid and François Klaus`s much loved ballet, Cloudland.

Her signature roles have been Carmen, Juliet and Giselle, however highlights have included works by Nils Christe, Natalie Weir, Stephan Thoss, Mario Schroeder, Davide Bombana, Young Soon Hue, Stephen Baynes, Paul Boyd and Kim McCarthy.

Rachael has toured internationally with Queensland Ballet to Europe on three occasions, as well as to Japan, China and Singapore. She was also invited to dance at The Asia-Pacific Ballet Festival in Seoul, Korea.

In 2014 Rachael staged Nil`s Christe`s ballet Short Dialogues on the Queensland Ballet for its Flourish program and in April 2015 she travelled to Houston, Texas to again stage the ballet for the international dance festival, Dance Salad.

Rachael retired from ballet following her performance as Lady Capulet in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo & Juliet. She is currently the Development Manager at Queensland Ballet.