The Australian-born principal is part of two new Royal Ballet works coming to Brisbane.

When The Royal Ballet last toured to Australia some 15 years ago, a 17-year old dance student from western Sydney went to see them and was totally enraptured.

“I was a student in Sydney with Hilary Kaplan in 2002 and I remember watching them perform a mixed program of one-act ballets. I was in awe of the dancers and the repertoire, and I knew that The Royal Ballet was where I wanted to go,” recalls Steven McRae, now one of the Company’s star dancers.

The Royal Ballet, The Winter's Tale, Steven McRaeSteven McRae in The Royal Ballet’s The Winter’s Tale. Photo © Johan Persson

With a father who was a drag racer and auto electrician, McRae grew up trackside and loved it – he’s still something of a revhead – but he was driven to succeed in the altogether different world of ballet, having discovered the joy of dancing at age seven when he performed in a group  jazz number in a school concert.

In the same year that the Royal Ballet toured here, McRae won the Gold Medal...