Congratulations to Leanne Benjamin on this great news. Like many others I will look forward to her return to dancing.

PRESS RELEASE

ROYAL BALLET PRINCIPAL
DANCER LEANNE BENJAMIN
EXPECTING A BABY IN THE SUMMER

The Royal Ballet is pleased to announce that Principal dancer Leanne Benjamin is expecting her first baby in June.

Leanne Benjamin was born in Australia, she trained at the Royal Ballet School, winning the Adeline Genée Gold Medal and Prix de Lausanne. She has been a Principal dancer with Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Deutsche Oper Berlin. Her repertory includes Odette/Odile, Giselle, Sugar Plum Fairy, Aurora, Nikiya, Kitri, Swanilda, Firebird, Cinderella, Lise, Titania, Manon, Anastasia, Juliet (Ashton and MacMillan), Mitzi Caspar, Mary Vetsera (Mayerling), Irina (Winter Dreams), Girl (The Invitation), The Judas Tree, Song of the Earth, Gloria, Elite Syncopations, Symphony in C, Apollo, Danses concertantes, Études, Brünnhilde (Béjart’s Ring), Carmen, Herman Schmerman and The Leaves are Fading. She created roles in Bintley’s Metamorphosis and The Snow Queen, Bruce’s Symphony in Three Movements, and in Tharp’s Mr Worldly Wise and Page’s Two-Part Invention.

She intends to continue her dancing career after the birth of her baby.

Leanne Benjamin says, “We are thrilled with the prospect of becoming parents this June and I look forward to returning to the Royal Opera House in the Autumn.”

She will be replaced as the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker by Jaimie Tapper, partnered by Yohei Sasaki, on 23 (mat) December and 3 January and by
Zenaida Yanowsky, partnered by Inaki Urlezaga, on 28 and 31 (mat) December.

Has Darcey set a trend - how wonderful!