Pulling the strings

THERE'S no prize for guessing which of the fine arts Annie Reid practised in her younger days. When the slightly built 51-year-old talks there is a wonderful physicality about her, not just hand gestures but flowing, whole-body movements that underscore her speech.

For nine years, from age 17, Reid was a classical ballerina. She left school after year 9 to train full time and danced with the Sydney Dance Company. She has been on stage at the Sydney Opera House, toured Australia and performed in Europe, but, despite her successes, her memories of those years as a professional dancer clearly carry some pain.

Asked why she left ballet to work in stage management Reid is unusually lost for words, before saying: "I had knee injuries plus a whole lot of emotional issues that I won't go into. Classical ballet is a pretty 'interesting' world to get into when you're that young."

Later, Reid recalls that in her dancing days the dominant teaching method was constant harsh criticism. "I'm still recovering from my big-stick classical ballet teaching. We were just told how bad we were all the time to make us work harder but it seriously backfired in most of my generation. It's like the piano teacher whacking the ruler across the knuckles."

While dancing with the Australian Opera, Reid began to volunteer for backstage work and eventually moved into stage managing and operations. Now with more than two decades of production experience behind her, she draws on her days as a young performer in her approach to the artists she works with. "I can go up to a dancer or an actor or a musician and say, 'I know exactly how you feel' and I do, and they know that," she says.

As we sit in a sunny corner of the Malthouse cafe, Reid is bouncing with enthusiasm for the young musicians she is working with in the Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition, in which teams from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China and South Korea will compete at the Melbourne Recital Centre. (This will be the first time Reid has worked at the centre since she consulted on its design, and while she is keeping an open mind about it, she points out that many of her recommendations weren't taken up.)

Reid often uses the words "motherly", "mother" and "maternal" as she talks about working with young performers. "This competition is a real stretch for them. I keep doing the mother thing and saying, 'Isn't it fantastic to be challenged like this and to learn so much?' "

Reid grew up in suburban Sydney and her music-teacher father would often bring home instruments for her and her brother to try. She played several, but nothing "grabbed me by the throat" the way ballet did.

But since setting up her own production company in 1989, Reid has often found herself working on major events way out of the classical field. She has been a major player behind the scenes on everything from the recent Joan Rivers tour to AFL grand finals.

The theatre of football is a million miles - and probably several million dollars - away from classical music. Reid says she loves doing the grand final entertainment and laughs as she reveals how seriously people take their football. "They all fall off their chairs when I say, 'Let's start the show'," she says. "But it is a show, it's all entertainment."

Her role in it has perks, too. "I get to sit up in a level-three corporate box, which means I get to look over all the staff on the ground, directing from above. It's one of the more fun things I do in a year," she says.

Reid doesn't begrudge footy the big money it attracts, but it is a stark contrast with the money involved in her typical gigs. She says she would like to see some of the more specialised arts better supported. (She says corporate gigs such as football pay around four times the rate for many of her jobs.)

With her husband Hugh Halliday, the director of production at Melbourne Opera, Reid has two daughters, aged 14 and 17. The younger, Joanna, is a keen diver and was recently selected for the state schools team. Reid notes that her daughter's experience of elite performance is a far cry from her own experience as a dancer. "Her life is so much more easy going, much calmer."

Looking back, how much different would her life have been if she had had a supporter in the wings, someone like she is now?

"Lordy bee, I wish I'd had a me," she says. "Every step I take I think that. I slugged my guts out but I had no belief because I had been told at 15 I was appalling. You've got to have that belief in yourself."

I ask Reid what's the biggest difference between working in front of the curtain and behind it. The latter, she answers simply, is "safer". But not too safe. "Stage management still gives me the performance satisfaction that I need, that high," she says. "Everything that moves on stage is cued by you. It's still performing."

The Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition is at the Melbourne Recital Centre July 1-5. See chambermusic australia.com.au

ANNIE REID - ON AND OFF STAGE

Private life Born 1958, Sydney. Married to Hugh Halliday, two daughters, aged 14 and 17.

Career: 1976 Began classical ballet with the Sydney Dance Company.

1983 Quit dancing to become assistant stage manager with the Victorian State Opera.

1989 Began working as a freelance stage manager.

2005-06 Consultant on the backstage and technical requirements of the Melbourne Recital Centre.

1989 to present Works on four-yearly Asia Pacific Chamber Music Competition, stage manages at venues such as the MCG, Rod Laver Arena, Crown Casino and Hamer Hall. Has production managed AFL grand final entertainment since 2007.