American-born dancer Sam Akins is already a world-traveler. Born in Alabama, he graduated from the School of American Ballet before joining the Los Angeles Ballet and then Alabama Ballet. In 2021, he became the first African American to dance with the Paris Opéra Ballet. “The whole point of me traveling and moving to different countries is taking in the culture and understanding and seeing different things,” Akins says.
Akins joined The Australian Ballet in 2025 as a member of the corps de ballet. While The Australian Ballet is based in Melbourne, the company also has an annual performance season in Sydney. Akins and a select group of dancers are currently in Sydney, rehearsing for a new contemporary evening-length work in collaboration with Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Australian company of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. The piece, titled Flora, is about the evolution of plants in Australia.
Here, he shares his typical routine.
7:45 am: In Sydney, Akins wakes up in furnished housing provided by the company. “The only thing I have to worry about is my bags.” He describes himself as slow in the morning and starts with a coffee and breakfast, usually oatmeal with fruit and granola. “’My preferred coffee is a black cold brew, but here, it’s extortionate. I paid $9.50 for cold brew the other day.”
9:15 am: Akins commutes to the studios by e-bike. “When I was in Paris, I really fell in love with biking,” he says. “I put my AirPods in, and I just think it’s so cinematic and romantic.” He arrives early enough to do some light cross-training or physical therapy exercises before class.
10 am: Class starts and runs for an hour and 15 minutes. “I feel like I’m not whole unless I do a really good ballet class,” he says. “It sets me up [for] whatever kind of movement is required throughout the day.”
11:15 am: The dancers have a 15-minute break before rehearsals begin. “We go outside and sit by the water for a quick little sunbathe with our cup of coffee,” Akins says.
11:30 am: First rehearsal block. Right now, the dancers from The Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre are collaborating in the studio. “Each section is being developed from scratch,” he says. “Something I’m learning about is tasking, which is quite big here. We just have a blank piece of white paper, with the title of the section in the middle.” From there the dancers write what comes to mind from the title. “The First Nations dancers and my Australian colleagues bring a lot of historical context.”
2 pm: Lunch. Akins often gets food from the cafe at the studio, but sticks to lighter fare because of the summer heat. Some of his favorites are a salad with quality bread, a wrap, and Thai curry. Sometimes he visits with his friends at Sydney Dance Company, just down the street. “I’m living my Dance Academy dreams.”
3:15 pm: Second rehearsal block. Akins is in a section of Flora that is aerial work, so he is building stamina for dancing in a harness. “When I was at SAB, I had no inkling that this would be part of my dance career.”
5 pm: Because each section of the evening-length work is rehearsed separately, the dancers come together at the end of the day for a show-and-tell session.
6 pm: After rehearsals finish, Akins doesn’t like to head straight home. Instead, he takes at least an hour to decompress. He might take a book to a restaurant or wine bar, call friends and family back home, or visit a park. For dinner, he prioritizes protein for muscle recovery.
8 pm: At home, Akins answers emails or takes meetings for his side project as creative director and producer for his friend, choreographer Yuiko Masukawa. “It’s something that I’m passionate about, and I get to exercise another muscle outside of dance,” he says. “It feeds my dancing as well, to not just come home and think about all that happened throughout the day.”
11 pm: Akins falls asleep to a show on his laptop. He’s currently rewatching “Sex and the City,” but sometimes he will put on “Judge Judy,” which reminds him of spending time with his grandparents as a child.
Performance Days
The Australian Ballet has a heavy performance schedule, with shows Monday through Saturday and two-show days on Wednesday and Saturday. On a double-show day, Akins takes class at 11 am and immediately goes into hair and makeup, depending on the role he is performing. “The last thing we did was Sleeping Beauty, so you can imagine the hair and the wigs.” The first show starts at 2:30 pm, ending around 4:30. Afterwards the dancers break for lunch and return for a warm-up barre again before the second performance at 7:30. Akins likes to head home by 11 pm.
Days Off
“I love a solo date,” Akins says. On days off, he explores Sydney on his bike, visits the beach, and enjoys browsing clothing stores. At night he likes to go out dancing with friends. “I try to find that balance,” he says. “When I do other things outside of ballet, by Monday morning, I’m hungry to get back in the studio.”
The post The Australian Ballet’s Sam Akins Shares His Daily Routine appeared first on Pointe Magazine.