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Benedicte Bemet

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

Benedicte Bemet
Born
Mackay, Queensland
EducationAustralian Ballet School
OccupationDancer
Known forPrincipal dancer with The Australian Ballet
AwardsTelstra Ballet Dancer Award

Early life and education

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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

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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

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Bemet's repertoire with The Australian Ballet includes:

YearBalletChoreographer(s)Role
2024Alice’s Adventures in WonderlandChristopher WheeldonAlice[5][10]
2023Swan LakeAnne WoolliamsOdette/Odile[11][12][6]
2023JewelsGeorge BalanchineDiamonds - Lead Couple[9]
2023Don QuixoteRudolf Nureyev (after Marius Petipa)Kitri[13]
2023The DreamFrederick AshtonTitania[14]
2022Romeo and JulietJohn CrankoJuliet[15]
2022HarlequinadeMarius Petipa and Alexei RatmanskyColumbine[15]
2022KunstkamerSol León, Paul Lightfoot, Crystal Pite and Marco GoeckePerformer[16]
2022Anna KareninaYuri PossokhovKitty[17]
2020CapriccioFrançois-Eloi LavignacSolo dancer[18][19]
2019GiselleMaina GielgudGiselle[20]
2018SpartacusAram Khachaturian and Lucas JerviesFlavia[8]
2016CoppéliaGeorge Ogilvie and Peggy van PraaghSwanilda[21]
2016In the Middle, Somewhat ElevatedWilliam ForsythePerformer[4]
2016Grand pas classiqueViktor GvoskyPerformer[4]
2016DGV©: Danse à grande vitesseChristopher Wheeldon"Second Region" Pas de deux[4]
2016Symphony in CGeorge BalanchineThird Movement Principal[4]
2015The Sleeping BeautyDavid McAllisterAurora[2][5]
2015The Sleeping BeautyDavid McAllisterPrincess Florine[4]
2015GiselleMaina GielgudPeasant Pas de deux[21]
2014The NutcrackerPeter WrightClara[4]
2014Suite en BlancSerge LifarSérénade Variation[4]

Awards

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Personal life

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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

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  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. Cite error: Unknown parameter " tag; supported parameters are dir, follow, group, name (see the help page).
  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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