Benedicte Bemet

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Benedicte Bemet is an Australian ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer for The Australian Ballet.

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Benedicte Bemet
Born
Mackay, Queensland
Education Australian Ballet School
OccupationDancer
Known forPrincipal dancer with The Australian Ballet
Awards Telstra Ballet Dancer Award

Early life and education

Bemet was born in Mackay, Queensland, [1] in about 1994, the daughter of Steven and Andrée Bemet, who are both school teachers. [2] She has one brother. [2] She grew up on the Gold Coast, Queensland, where she learned ballet at the Ransley Ballet Centre, [1] and then lived in Hong Kong with her family. [2] There, she trained at the Jean M. Wong School of Ballet. [1] She then returned to Queensland to live with her grandparents in order to apply to the Australian Ballet School, which she entered in 2008, aged 14. [2] [3]

Career

Bemet began dancing with the Australian Ballet in 2012. [3] She was promoted from coryphée to soloist in 2016, [2] [4] after having been chosen in 2015 by the then artistic director of the Australian Ballet David McAllister to take on the role of Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty . [2] A dance reviewer commented that, "in her 40 years of "ballet-watching", [she] ha[d] not witnessed a debut like it ... it was extraordinary." [2]

In 2017, Bemet suffered a severe tendon injury which caused her to take a year off from ballet, [5] [6] during which she explored psychology and read books about resilience and wellness. [7] By September 2018, she was dancing as a soloist again, in the role of Flavia in Spartacus . [8] A reviewer commented, "Benedicte Bemet paints a fragile yet fiercely passionate persona as Flavia, and her commitment to emotive storytelling through dance is stunning to watch." [8] She was promoted to principal dancer in December 2019. [1] In 2023, The Australian Ballet, with Bemet, performed at Covent Garden for the first time in 35 years. A reviewer wrote of her performance there in George Balanchine's Jewels:

"Bemet’s musicality was notable, allowing her to shade between her movements and to let the choreography breathe; she made the overlong central pas de deux into a vision of classical purity, while the third and fourth sections saw her unleash impressive but never over-showy virtuosity. This was a notable assumption of a very difficult role; while Caley is a familiar dancer one was delighted to see again, Bemet is an unfamiliar artist one longs to see again." [9]

Selected roles

Bemet's repertoire with The Australian Ballet includes:

YearBalletChoreographer(s)Role
2024 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Christopher Wheeldon Alice [5] [10]
2023 Swan Lake Anne Woolliams Odette/Odile [11] [12] [6]
2023Jewels George Balanchine Diamonds - Lead Couple [9]
2023 Don Quixote Rudolf Nureyev (after Marius Petipa)Kitri [13]
2023 The Dream Frederick Ashton Titania [14]
2022 Romeo and Juliet John Cranko Juliet [15]
2022 Harlequinade Marius Petipa and Alexei Ratmansky Columbine [15]
2022KunstkamerSol León, Paul Lightfoot, Crystal Pite and Marco Goecke Performer [16]
2022Anna KareninaYuri PossokhovKitty [17]
2020CapriccioFrançois-Eloi LavignacSolo dancer [18] [19]
2019 Giselle Maina Gielgud Giselle [20]
2018 Spartacus Aram Khachaturian and Lucas JerviesFlavia [8]
2016 Coppélia George Ogilvie and Peggy van Praagh Swanilda [21]
2016 In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated William Forsythe Performer [4]
2016 Grand pas classique Viktor GvoskyPerformer [4]
2016 DGV©: Danse à grande vitesse Christopher Wheeldon"Second Region" Pas de deux [4]
2016 Symphony in C George Balanchine Third Movement Principal [4]
2015 The Sleeping Beauty David McAllister Aurora [2] [5]
2015The Sleeping BeautyDavid McAllisterPrincess Florine [4]
2015 Giselle Maina Gielgud Peasant Pas de deux [21]
2014 The Nutcracker Peter Wright Clara [4]
2014 Suite en Blanc Serge Lifar Sérénade Variation [4]

Awards

Personal life

Bemet loves baking and cooking anything involving chocolate [4] and has an aversion for tight fitting clothes. [22] In order to relieve stress before shows, Bemet likes to sew pointe shoes. [23]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Australian Ballet promotes two dancers". Dance Informa. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Milsom, Rosemarie (23 September 2016). "Meet Benedicte Bemet, The Australian Ballet's rising star". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 15 February 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 Boon, Maxim (4 December 2015). "Benedicte Bemet crowned Telstra Ballet Dancer of the Year". Limelight. Sydney, Australia. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "The Australian Ballet | Benedicte Bemet". The Australian Ballet. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Story, Hannah (16 February 2024). "A very important date: Australian Ballet's biggest ever production is back". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  6. 1 2 Bendall, Susan (20 November 2023). "Total immersion". Dance Australia. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  7. ↑ Player, Bree. "Principal ballerina Benedicte Bemet's pre-show wellness rituals". Body + Soul.
  8. 1 2 3 Navin, Sarah (25 September 2018). "The Australian Ballet's Spartacus: All is fair in love, and gladiator gore". bachtrack. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  9. 1 2 Dowler, G.J. (2 August 2023). "Jewels – George Balanchine's glittering triptych of abstract ballets". Classical Source. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  10. ↑ Selar, Paul (16 March 2024). "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland©". Australian Arts Review. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  11. ↑ "'Sublime': Mackay dancer Benedicte Bemet wows Brisbane audiences in Swan Lake". The Courier Mail. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 25 October 2023. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  12. ↑ Byrne, Tim (22 December 2023). "Australia on stage: the best theatre, musicals, dance and opera of 2023. Swan Lake". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  13. ↑ Selar, Paul (26 February 2023). "The Australian Ballet: Ballet Under the Stars". Australian Arts Review. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  14. ↑ Lancaster, Lynne (18 November 2023). "The Australian Ballet In The Dream / Marguerite And Armand : A Double Bill To Savour". Sydney Arts Guide. Archived from the original on 24 October 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  15. 1 2 Lois, Leila (14 December 2022). "How The Australian Ballet is drastically cutting injury rates". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  16. ↑ Bailey, John (14 April 2022). "The ballet unlike any you've seen before – and why it'll set a new standard". The Age. Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  17. ↑ Mercer, Margaret (28 February 2022). "REVIEW: The Australian Ballet's 'Anna Karenina'". Dance Australia. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  18. ↑ Russell, Stephen A (4 August 2020). "Australian Ballet puts Spartacus, The Merry Widow and Bodytorque online". TimeOut. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  19. ↑ "Capriccio. Bodytorque.Digital". The Australian Ballet. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  20. ↑ Jones, Deborah. "Benedicte Bemet's Giselle". deborah jones: FollowSpot. Retrieved 18 January 2025.
  21. 1 2 Fortescue, Elizabeth (1 December 2016). "Benedicte Bemet set to pass the torch on the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award at opening night of Coppelia". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney, Australia. Retrieved 6 January 2025.
  22. ↑ Gordon, Georgie (27 April 2024). "'I love feeling comfortable': What you'll never see this ballerina wearing". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  23. ↑ The Australian Ballet (23 September 2014). A DAY IN THE LIFE OF BENEDICTE BEMET . Retrieved 30 December 2024– via YouTube.
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