Danielle Rowe (born 1982 in

Shepparton Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, ...

) is an Australian-born

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

dancer and choreographer.

Dancing career

Rowe trained in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. She joined

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and direct ...

in 2001. She won the

Telstra People's Choice Award The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) is a Victoria State Government-funded annual festival based in Melbourne founded in 2012. It is presented by Film Victoria, and the provider is chosen through a tender process. The current tender pro ...

in both 2003 and 2005 and in 2008 became a principal artist with the company. In 2011, she joined the

Houston Ballet Houston Ballet, operated by Houston Ballet Foundation, is a professional ballet company based in Houston, Texas. The company, consisting of 59 dancers, produces over 85 performances per year. History Tatiana Semenova (1955–1967) Houston dev ...

as a first soloist (senior artist in Australian Ballet terms). and was promoted to principal dancer in August of the same year. In 2012 she joined

Nederlands Dans Theater Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT; literal translation Netherlands Dance Theatre) is a Dutch contemporary dance company. NDT is headquartered at the ''Amare'' building in The Hague. NDT also performs at other venues in the Netherlands, including Amste ...

Choreography career

In 2017, Rowe, who had retired from dancing, choreographed her first piece. This was ''For Pixie'' for SFDanceworks, where she became the associate artistic director. The piece is inspired by her grandparents, and has since been performed by

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Franc ...

and Ballet Idaho. Rowe's ballet ''Fury'', inspired by the film '' Mad Max: Fury Road'', premiered in San Francisco in September 2018. The work was produced by Kate Duhamel and featured dancers from LINES Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, including

Adji Cissoko Adji Cissoko is a German ballet dancer. She is currently a principal dancer at LINES Ballet. Early life Cissoko was born in Munich, Germany, to a German mother and Senegalese father. While growing up, the family visited Senegal regularly and ble ...

, Babatunji, Frances Chung,

Dores André Dores André Rodríguez (born 1985) is a Spanish ballet dancer. She is currently a principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet. Early life André was born in Vigo, Spain, to a professor and a doctor. When she was eleven, she was sent to a small ...

, and Rowe's husband Luke Ingham. ''Fury'' was later performed in San Jose at the

Silicon Valley Comic Con Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic tab ...

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, and also returned to San Francisco. After seeing ''For Pixie'', Helgi Tomasson, artistic director of San Francisco Ballet, hired her to choreograph a piece, ''UnSaid'', for San Francisco's 2019 opening gala. Her first ensemble piece for the company, ''Wooden Dimes'', starring

Sarah Van Patten Sarah Van Patten (born 1984) is an American ballet dancer. She began an apprenticeship at the Royal Danish Ballet at age 15. In 2001, at age 17, she became the youngest ever dancer to receive a contract at the company. Later that year, she joined ...

, premiered in March 2021 in a digital program due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ''Madcap'', starring principal dancer Tiit Helimets as a clown having a personal crisis, premiered January 20, 2023 with San Francisco Ballet at the

War Memorial Opera House The War Memorial Opera House is an opera house in San Francisco, California, located on the western side of Van Ness Avenue across from the west side/rear facade of the San Francisco City Hall. It is part of the San Francisco War Memorial and ...

Awards

In 2009, Rowe won the Walter Bourke prize, which allowed her to travel to New York and perform with

Christopher Wheeldon Christopher Peter Wheeldon OBE (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Life and career Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dan ...

's dance company

Morphoses Christopher Peter Wheeldon Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Life and career Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began ...

. In 2010, she won a

Helpmann Award The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical th ...

for her performance in ''Dyad 1929'' by

Wayne McGregor Wayne McGregor, CBE (born 12 March 1970) is a multi award-winning British choreographer and director. He is the Artistic Director of Studio Wayne McGregor and Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet. McGregor was appointed Commander of the ...

. In 2012, Rowe was named one of "25 to Watch" by ''

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including ''Pointe' ...

''.

Personal life

Rowe is married to fellow South Australian Luke Ingham. Ingham also danced with Houston Ballet for the 2011–2012 season. In 2012, he joined

where he was promoted to principal dancer in 2014. Rowe joined him in San Francisco, and they married at

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

. They have two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Danielle Australian ballerinas Morphoses dancers 1982 births Living people People from Shepparton Telstra Ballet Dancer Award winners Houston Ballet principal dancers Australian Ballet School alumni Helpmann Award winners Ballet choreographers 21st-century ballet dancers