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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

The Gallery’s Acknowledgement of Country, and information on culturally sensitive and restricted content and the use of historic language in the collection can be found here.

Leanne Benjamin

1999 (printed 2022)
Polly Borland

from the series ‘Australians’
type C photograph on paper, edition 1/10 (image: 49.8 cm x 39.4 cm, sheet: 65.0 cm x 54.5 cm)

Leanne Benjamin AM OBE (b. 1964) was Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet between 1993 and 2013. Born in Rockhampton, she started learning ballet at age three and was sixteen when she was accepted into the Royal Ballet School. She joined the Royal Ballet as a First Soloist in 1992 having performed with the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (where she was Principal Dancer from 1987), the London Festival Ballet (where she was again promoted to Principal Dancer), and the Deutsche Oper Ballet, where she worked with choreographer and former artistic director of the Royal Ballet, Sir Kenneth MacMillan. It was at his urging that Benjamin joined the Royal Ballet, making her debut there in 1992 as Mary Vetsera in MacMillan's Mayerling, a role she reprised for her final performance with the company in 2013. In the intervening years, she danced leading roles in numerous ballets including some of the most iconic works in the repertoire (Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Giselle, The Firebird, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, for example), and created new roles for choreographers such as Alastair Marriott, Wayne McGregor, Alexei Ratmansky, David Bintley and Christopher Wheeldon. One of the last members of the Royal Ballet to work with Macmillan, Ninette de Valois and Frederick Ashton, Benjamin was awarded many accolades during her career including Best Female Dancer at the National Dance Awards (UK) in 2004 and 2009. She was named an OBE in 2005, a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015, and in 2014 she launched the Leanne Benjamin Awards – a scholarship scheme enabling young Australian dancers to train at the Royal Ballet School. Her autobiography Built for Ballet was published in 2021.

Purchased 2022
© Polly Borland

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Polly Borland (age 40 in 1999)

Leanne Benjamin AM OBE (age 35 in 1999)

Subject professions

Performing arts

© National Portrait Gallery 2023
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

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