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‘…if you say Ballet, there's a definite aesthetic and behaviour that comes to mind, and, you know, it doesn't look like that for everyone. […] we are people. We're not mannequins, we're not robots, ballet isn't for the elite. We're all people that have pets and walk the dogs in the morning and get burgers on a Friday night. We're all human. But I think there's this idea that ballet looks and behaves a certain way, and it can be pretty unforgiving at times that stereotype and really doesn't look like that for everyone.’ Alice Topp

Alice Topp sits in a large well lit rehearsal room, on the floor. She faces two dancers towards the middle of the space, with one dancer holding the other in a sideways lift — Alice Topp in rehearsal. Photography by Kate Longley

Alice was born and raised in Bendigo and started dancing at the age of four. After two years with Royal New Zealand Ballet, she joined The Australian Ballet in 2007. Her passion for choreography began when she created her first work, Trace, for the 2010 season of Bodytorque, the company’s choreographic showcase. From 2011 to 2014, she made three further works for the Bodytorque seasons; in 2016 she choreographed Little Atlas, which appeared in the company’s mainstage program Symphony in C in both 2016 and 2017. In 2018 her work Aurum, which was created with the support of a Rudolf Nureyev Prize for New Dance, had its world premiere as part of The Australian Ballet’s Verve program. It appeared at New York’s Joyce Theater in 2019.

In 2019 Alice won the Helpmann Award for Best Ballet for Aurum. She has also been nominated for a Green Room Award (Little Atlas, 2017) and for two Australian Dance Awards (Same Vein, 2014 and Trace, 2010).

She has choreographed music videos for artists including Megan Washington and Ben Folds, and has been invited to create works for Houston Ballet II and Queensland Ballet. She was appointed one of The Australian Ballet’s resident choreographers in 2018.