Jobs on line in major Queensland Ballet shake-up

Jobs are set to be axed in a major restructure of the Queensland Ballet after the organisation failed to secure funding for its dance academy.

Ivan Gil-Ortega took over as Queensland Ballet’s artistic director early in 2025. Picture: David Kelly

Dancers and administrative jobs are set to be axed in a major restructure of the Queensland Ballet after the organisation failed to secure federal funding for its dance academy.

In a statement, Queensland Ballet chair Brett Clark said they had made a “difficult decision” to revise the organisation across artistic and business teams.

“This is not an easy time for us … We need to align our trams with the opportunities within a new operating model so that we continue to thrive into the future,” the statement read.

“We have worked hard to leverage our base grants from state and federal governments and have unapologetically advocated loudly for the parity of federal funding to bring us in line with our peers in New South Wales and Victoria. To date, we have been unsuccessful.”

Former artistic directors Li Cunxin and Leanne Benjamin. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

The job losses were expected to be a combination of voluntary and compulsory redundancies and a review was launched into dancers’ contracts that were due to expire this year.

The number of jobs likely to be affected was yet to be determined.

It follows the shock departure of artistic director Leanne Benjamin last year after just six months in the role, with sources at the time claiming Ms Benjamin “could not work within the budget limitations of Queensland Ballet”.

The former principal dancer began in the role early last year, following the departure of Li Cunxin, also known as Mao’s Last Dancer, due to ill health.

Ivan Gil-Ortega took her place as artistic director in February this year.