Leanne Benjamin, OBE, AM, is a highly acclaimed and award-winning dancer, who was a principal ballerina with SadlerWells Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Berlin Ballet and ultimately a principal for 20 years with the Royal Ballet. Born in Queensland, Australia, she started her professional ballet career at the age of 18 and retired from the stage at the age of 49, after a world- class career. She now devotes herself to coaching for major ballet productions around the world for companies including the Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, the Australian Ballet and Queensland Ballet. She is Vice Chair of the Board of Governors for the Royal Ballet Companies, and patron of the Tait Memorial Trust. She is also much in demand as an international judge and motivational guest speaker.
Today, Leanne Benjamin is on the blog to take on our Ten Terrifying Questions, to celebrate the release of her memoir, Built for Ballet, written with Sarah Crompton. Read on!
Leanne Benjamin in Requiem, The Royal Ballet (Photo by Tristram Kenton, 2011).
1. To begin with, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
I was born in Rockhampton, Central Queensland and schooled at Our Lady’s Primary School and The Range Convent High School – both catholic schools predominantly run by nuns.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
A performer, a performer and a performer! The stage is where I felt most at home, a place where anything is possible.
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you don’t have now?
Don’t date younger men!
4. What are three works of art – this could be a book, painting, piece of music, film, etc – that influenced your development as a writer?
The iconic photograph of me flying over central Australia, captured by Jason Bell was a great start to the book. It sums up who I am, a ballerina who has spent years flying back and forth over this incredible country. My other influence was reading Michelle Obama’s book. Her stories taught me the importance of allowing the reader to feel what the writer is saying. As an architect, Zahar Hadid has constantly inspired me, proving that space can work in radical new ways. The curve of her designs have always reminded me of a beautiful dance.
5. Considering the many artistic forms out there, what appeals to you about writing a memoir?
As a reader, I’m drawn in by inspirational stories, someone who does what it takes to reach a goal and to take some part of that book away with me as a life lesson.
‘It takes you behind the scenes to find a real understanding of the pleasure and pain, the demands and the intense commitment it requires to become a ballet dancer at the highest level.’
6. Please tell us about your latest book!
The book describes my story … how a little girl from Rockhampton, Queensland who began dance classes at age 3, was accepted into the Royal Ballet School at 16 and became a leading ballerina on the world stage, retiring at 49.
It takes you behind the scenes to find a real understanding of the pleasure and pain, the demands and the intense commitment it requires to become a ballet dancer at the highest level.
But it is also a book of small moments of insight: what makes a performance special, how a different partner can alter everything, what it’s like to fall over in front of thousands of people and what it’s like to triumph.
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
That they see the gritty reality underneath the outer beauty of a ballerina’s life
8. Who do you most admire in the writing world and why?
My son Thomas; he needs no help to write his books.
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
To be authentic.
10. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Like a performance, start with the story and continue to develop and colour it. Hemmingway was rumoured to have said, ‘Write drunk, edit sober.’
Thank you for playing!
—Built for Ballet by Leanne Benjamin (Melbourne Books) is out now.
Built for Ballet
An Autobiography
This autobiography by Leanne Benjamin with Sarah Crompton reveals the extraordinary life and career of one of the world’s most important ballet dancers of the past 50 years.
Leanne was born and raised in the central Queensland town of Rockhampton in a tightly knit hard-working Catholic family. At the age of 3 she attended her first ballet class and at 16 she was accepted into the Royal Ballet School in London and at 18 danced her first leading role on the Royal Opera House stage in the school’s performance of Giselle that catapulted her to a stellar career...
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