Beginning mid-Janauary 2024, former Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet Leanne Benjamin AM OBE will take over the helm at Queensland Ballet, succeeding Li Cunxin AO.
Named Australian of the Year in the UK 2023, Benjamin marks the sixth leader of the company – its first female one – resulting from an international search after Cunxin announced his pending retirement.
“The selection committee comprised of Board Directors, internal leadership, and external sector experts from Australia and abroad, including Director of The Royal Ballet, Kevin O’Hare CBE. Throughout the process, Leanne stood out with an innate currency of our artform, an uncanny alignment with our strategic cornerstones which have been developed significantly throughout Li’s tenure, and a visceral passion for Queensland.”
– Brett Clark, Queensland Ballet Chair
“I am thrilled for Leanne embarking on this next exciting venture and seeing her life coming full circle back to her roots in Queensland.
Leanne has been an extraordinary force of the British ballet scene, lauded first as a ballerina and then as a coach and passionate advocate for dance. During all these phases of her career, I have hugely admired her artistry and work ethic and have loved working with her.
Her roles on stage serve as a history lesson in the ballets that define The Royal Ballet, from the great 19th-century classics like Giselle and The Sleeping Beauty, to Frederick Ashton works such as The Dream and the dramatic masterpieces by Kenneth MacMillan including Manon and Mayerling, through to ballets created with today’s leading choreographers Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon.
Most recently, Leanne’s gift to The Royal Ballet has been coaching our current generation of dancers in some of these roles; how wonderful that she now takes this flair and generosity to Queensland Ballet. And how special that she can build on the fantastic legacy of Li Cunxin whom both she and I so greatly admire.
We wish Leanne and all the dancers and staff at Queensland a vibrant future.””
Kevin O’Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet
Leanne Benjamin Returns Home to Queensland
As Artistic Director , Leanne Benjamin will be working closely with a former colleague of The Royal Opera House, Dilshani Weerasinghe, who is currently Executive Director of Queensland Ballet.
“What excites me is that Leanne has also informed her experience with a currency that comes from her wider roles. Her heart sits with our artform, our artists, and with Queensland. She has a vibrant, breath-taking vision across ballet pathways, ballet traditions, and ballet fresh thinking. It’s an exciting time ahead for the Queensland Ballet, and for me personally,” Weerasinghe expressed.
About Leanne Benjamin
Born in Rockhampton, Australia, Leanne Benjamin left for the UK at the age of sixteen to join The Royal Ballet School, after which she quickly drew the attention of dance leaders, winning the Prix de Lausanne and joining Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet where she rose to principal rank in 1986.
Continuing her career at English National Ballet and Deutsche Opera Ballet, she then joined The Royal Ballet upon the invitation of Kenneth MacMillan. Benjamin retired in 2013 at the age of 49 as a Principal Dancer, a position she held for two decades.
After her time on stage, she went on to coach the next generation of talent at companies such as The Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Queensland Ballet, and Scottish Ballet.
Benjamin sits as Vice-Chair on the board of Governors of The Royal Ballet Companies, overseeing The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and The Royal Ballet School. She was awarded the OBE in 2005 and made a member of the order of Australia (AM) in 2015.
Among the many accolades she received during her career are the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance, and the Critics Circle Best Female dancer award which she won on two occasions. She represented Australia at the Coronation of King Charles III.
Featured Photo of Leanne Benjamin AM OBE for Queensland Ballet by Jason Bell.
