It is amid the chaotic vitality of the Sydney Opera House green room that my video call with Australian Ballet Principal Benedicte Bemet takes place. At the time, Bemet has just finished the Sydney season of Don Quixote, dancing the role of Kitri for the first time, and now it’s opening night of “Identity” – a double bill showcasing two new works by Daniel Riley and Alice Topp.
Bemet’s rise to principal rank has come with great highs, hard work, sacrifices and a significant injury but there is an over-riding sense of the joy of dance in her account of her life as a dancer. She started ballet, aged three – when most of the rest of us were still toddling – and I was interested to know how this whole-of-life immersion in ballet has shaped her life. Bemet tells me that when she was young she thought “ballet is the only thing that matters”. She joined the interstate program of the Australian Ballet School, but at 12, her family relocated to Hong Kong and decisions got serious.
