World famous ex-ballerina Leanne Benjamin in shock exit from Queensland Ballet

Former Royal Ballet star Leanne Benjamin is making a shock leadership exit after just a few months as the prestigious company’s artistic director.

Queensland Ballet’s high-profile artistic director Leanne Benjamin. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

In a shock development, Queensland Ballet’s high-profile artistic director Leanne Benjamin will leave the prestigious company after spending just a few months in the role.

Benjamin was one of Australia’s most successful ballet stars – she was the Royal Ballet’s longest-serving ballerina, and danced until she was 49 – and her abrupt departure from Queensland Ballet has been attributed to funding constraints that prevented her from realising her vision for the company.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Queensland Ballet said: “Despite the best intentions from both parties, the current economic environment has posed challenges, making it difficult to realise Leanne’s vision, and it has been mutually agreed for Leanne to depart Queensland Ballet as Artistic Director on 2 August 2024.’’

Benjamin, who succeeded the hugely popular Li Cunxin (aka Mao’s Last Dancer) as Queensland Ballet’s artistic director, was the first woman to lead the troupe.

She said that as she worked on the 2025 season “it has become very clear that my artistic aspirations for our company, including the opportunity to engage diverse choreographic voices, both international and Australian, and venture outside of the traditional theatre environment with immersive opportunities, is not immediately possible within the funding constraints”.

The one-time muse to renowned choreographer Kenneth MacMillan added: “It is with great sadness that we have shared the news this week with the Queensland Ballet team.’’

Benjamin was born in Rockhampton and left for the Royal Ballet School in London, aged just 16. Her return to Queensland after a 43-year absence to lead the state ballet company was announced in December 2023 with much fanfare.

Leanne Benjamin. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

The former ballerina said on Wednesday: “Queensland and Queensland Ballet will always have a very special place in my heart, and I look forward to our continued relationship.’’

Queensland Ballet executive director Dilshani Weerasinghe said the company needed to work within its financial limits.

“Queensland Ballet’s circumstances are such that Leanne has not been able to infuse our 2025 offerings with her own artistic aspirations as much as she was hoping,” she said.

“This has been understandably dispiriting for Leanne and, although she might not be sitting with us as our artistic director in 2025, we will most certainly feel her legacy in Queensland Ballet’s investment in Australian and female voices.”

Ms Weerasinghe reassured the company’s donors and audiences that it would produce a full 2025 season.

“Although Queensland Ballet’s management team has workshopped several scenarios for the 2025 season, it is evident that the company needs to lean heavily into its existing repertory in the near future,” she said.

The company’s assistant artistic director, Greg Horsman, has been appointed acting artistic director and will help finalise the 2025 season.

Queensland Ballet chair Brett Clark thanked Benjamin for her leadership, creativity “and the ideas she has brought to the company over the past six months’’. He added pointedly: “We hope to welcome her back to enjoy some of the 2025 season with which she is so familiar.’’