Queensland Ballet’s sixth Artistic Director Leanne Benjamin OBE AM will leave Queensland Ballet and will be replaced by Assistant Artistic Director Greg Horsman to focus on completing the 2025 season.
Earlier this year, Queensland Ballet was delighted to welcome Benjamin, who is embarking on a dynamic career on the world stage. Her return to Queensland after an absence of 43 years was much anticipated and widely celebrated. Over the past six months, Benjamin has gotten to know the Queensland Ballet family of dancers, wider team, government stakeholders, collaborators, donors and corporate partners. She has also been building her network on the world stage, curating the first articulation of her artistic vision: Queensland Ballet’s 2025 Season.
Despite the good intentions of both parties, the current economic climate presented challenges that made it difficult to realize Benjamin’s vision, and it was agreed that Benjamin would leave Queensland Ballet as Artistic Director on 2 August.
Executive Director Dilshani Weerasinghe assured donors, partners, audiences, the community and Academy family that Queensland Ballet will still have full production, engagement programming and training opportunities next year.
“Our 2025 season productions and performances are artistically vibrant and in true Queensland Ballet style, bringing more exciting works and innovations to the space for our audiences, including our youngest fans. Utilizing that, our college and Van Noten Lee will have new ventures with the Community Health Institute,” she said.
Weerasinghe added: “The situation at Queensland Ballet is such that Leanne will not be able to integrate her own artistic ambitions into our 2025 performances as she would have liked. This is frustrating for Leanne, although she may not be Join us in 2025 as our Artistic Director, but her legacy will certainly be felt in Queensland Ballet’s investment in Australian and female voices and other elements she inspired.
Weerasinghe said the company had no choice but to operate with limited finances.
“While Queensland Ballet’s management team has developed a number of options for the 2025 season, it is clear that the company will need to rely heavily on existing repertoire in the near future while staging it at our newly revitalized Thomas Dixon Ballet. More activities.
“We are deeply saddened to share this news with Queensland Ballet this week,” Benjamin said. “Ultimately, as we work together to design a vibrant season for 2025, I am very excited about our company’s artistic ambitions. Obviously, this includes the opportunity to engage with diverse international and Australian choreographic voices, and to venture outside of traditional theatre. An environment with immersive opportunities is not immediately possible given the funding constraints faced by the company.
She added: “Queensland and Queensland Ballet will always hold a very special place in my heart and I look forward to our continued partnership. I have had a wonderful time getting to know Queensland Ballet over the past six months. I am honored to lead this wonderful company, our amazing dancers, staff, stakeholders, audiences and supporters. I wish the Queensland Ballet family and all my artistic colleagues in Queensland all the best, despite the difficulties. They will continue to strive for excellence and I will miss them but will see them soon.
Queensland Ballet Chairman Brett Clark AM thanked Benjamin for his contribution.
“Although Leanne has only been with us for a short time, we are extremely grateful for the valuable contributions she has made to the company over the past six months, including her artistic leadership, creativity, positivity and the ideas she brings to the company, and we hope She is welcome back to enjoy the 2025 season that she is so familiar with,” he said.
He reiterated that Queensland Ballet would have an enduring legacy. “We know we are in good hands. As we prepare to leave on 2 August, we are grateful to Greg Horsman for accepting the role of Acting Artistic Director and Queensland Ballet to work together to finalize the 2025 program, which will launch in October. Season. Greg has been with us since 2013 and was promoted to Assistant Artistic Director in 2023 in recognition of his tremendous contribution and collaboration. We know our artists and artistic team will be in good hands with him behind the scenes. Having a long-standing close relationship with the commercial team, our audiences will continue to enjoy the world stage ballet they are accustomed to, and this year there has been strong interest in Greg’s performances. Coppeliaand his sleeping Beauty Still holds our box office record.
“This company has been an iconic cultural institution in Queensland for 64 years and we will continue to move forward with confidence,” Clark concluded.
Queensland Ballet will launch its 2025 season in late October.
