Benedicte Bemet


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

Early life and education

Bemet was born in Mackay, Queensland, in about 1994, the daughter of Steven and Andrée Bemet, who are both school teachers. She has one brother. She grew up on the Gold Coast, Queensland, where she learned ballet at the Ransley Ballet Centre, and then lived in Hong Kong with her family. There, she trained at the Jean M. Wong School of Ballet. 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.

Career

Bemet began dancing with the Australian Ballet in 2012. She was promoted from coryphée to soloist in 2016, 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. A dance reviewer commented that, "in her 40 years of "ballet-watching", ha not witnessed a debut like it... it was extraordinary."
In 2017, Bemet suffered a severe tendon injury which caused her to take a year off from ballet, during which she explored psychology and read books about resilience and wellness. By September 2018, she was dancing as a soloist again, in the role of Flavia in Spartacus. 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." She was promoted to principal dancer in December 2019. 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:

Selected roles

Bemet's repertoire with The Australian Ballet includes:
YearBalletChoreographerRole
2024Alice’s Adventures in WonderlandChristopher WheeldonAlice
2023Swan LakeAnne WoolliamsOdette/Odile
2023JewelsGeorge BalanchineDiamonds - Lead Couple
2023Don QuixoteRudolf Nureyev Kitri
2023The DreamFrederick AshtonTitania
2022Romeo and JulietJohn CrankoJuliet
2022HarlequinadeMarius Petipa and Alexei RatmanskyColumbine
2022KunstkamerSol León, Paul Lightfoot, Crystal Pite and Marco GoeckePerformer
2022Anna KareninaYuri PossokhovKitty
2020CapriccioFrançois-Eloi LavignacSolo dancer
2019GiselleMaina GielgudGiselle
2018SpartacusAram Khachaturian and Lucas JerviesFlavia
2016CoppéliaGeorge Ogilvie and Peggy van PraaghSwanilda
2016In the Middle, Somewhat ElevatedWilliam ForsythePerformer
2016Grand pas classiqueViktor GvoskyPerformer
2016DGV©: Danse à grande vitesseChristopher Wheeldon"Second Region" Pas de deux
2016Symphony in CGeorge BalanchineThird Movement Principal
2015The Sleeping BeautyDavid McAllisterAurora
2015The Sleeping BeautyDavid McAllisterPrincess Florine
2015GiselleMaina GielgudPeasant Pas de deux
2014The NutcrackerPeter WrightClara
2014Suite en BlancSerge LifarSérénade Variation

Awards

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