The principal dancers in the first season were Kathleen Gorham, Marilyn Jones, Garth Welch, and the Swedish-born Caj Selling [sv] (1935–2005[3]).

In later years Sir Robert Helpmann, Marilyn Jones and Maina Gielgud made major contributions as artistic directors of the Australian Ballet.

Dame Margaret Scott was the founding director of the school, followed by Gailene Stock, Marilyn Rowe, and then Lisa Pavane, all three former company principal artists.

[citation needed] Choreographers including Graeme Murphy, Meryl Tankard, and Natalie Weir rose to prominence at TAB from the 1970s to the 1990s.

The company's income is derived from box office sales, along with funding from the Australian, Victorian, and New South Wales governments; corporate sponsors; private donors; and bequests.

[citation needed] Since 2021 and as of 2023[update] the company's artistic director is David Hallberg,[2] who was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre until 2020.

[2] For its 60th anniversary in 2023, TAB presented Identity, a double bill commissioned by Hallberg, which premiered in May 2023 at the Sydney Opera House before moving to Arts Centre Melbourne in June.

The performance comprises two works: The Hum, composed by Yorta Yorta woman Deborah Cheetham Fraillon and with costumes designed by Taungurung designer Annette Sax (the first Indigenous women to perform these roles in a TAB production), by Wiradjuri choreographer Daniel Riley of ADT; and Paragon, by resident choreographer Alice Topp.