The Back Page: All in the Family
It is six degrees of separation, with an Australian, English and American connection. Born in Australia, Leanne Benjamin started dancing in a local ballet school at age three. Having completed her academic education, at age 16 she traveled to London to attend the Royal Ballet School, winning the coveted Adeline Geneé Gold Medal from the Royal Academy of Dancing, and also the Prix de Lausanne Swiss Ballet Competition. She danced the role of Giselle for her graduation performance coached by Sir Peter Wright, director of Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet), and she joined the corps de ballet of the company. “Giselle” became one of her favorite roles, and in later years, she performed it again with the Australian Ballet.
Leaving SWRB, Benjamin next joined London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet) to dance with Peter Schaufuss. He danced the lead in Ashton’s “Romeo and Juliet” and stayed with the company for two years before going with Schaufuss to the Deutsche Opera Ballet in Berlin for another year. Benjamin rejoined the Royal Ballet, this time at Covent Garden as a soloist under the direction of Sir Kenneth MacMillan, and three years later she was promoted to principal. Her favorite roles were in MacMillan’s small ballets, “Gloria,” “Requiem,” “Song of the Earth” and “The Invitation.” She has added two of his full-length works to her repertoire, “Manon” and “Mayerling.” Today she dances ballets by a variety of choreographers and has recently added the “Emeralds” section of Balanchine’s “Jewels” and Jerome Robbins’ “Dances at a Gathering” to her repertoire. She also enjoys dancing works by new choreographers and has danced in many gala performances as a guest artist. Benjamin was awarded an OBE in 2005 at the Queen’s New Year’s Honors.
In the future, Benjamin says she has no plans to continue her dance career as a teacher or coach, but is interested in real estate property development. She is married to Tobias Round, a theatre producer in England. She first met him in London and again in New York doing a photo shoot with his father, the noted English dance and fashion photographer Roy Round, who is married to the former Royal Ballet ballerina Georgina Parkinson. The Rounds moved to America when Parkinson became a ballet master with American Ballet Theatre.
Georgina Parkinson was born in Brighton and entered the Royal Ballet School at age 11. She was a day student and travelled from her home to London until age 15 when she moved closer to the ballet school. Joining the company in 1955, Parkinson came up through the ranks and was promoted to soloist in 1958, and ballerina in 1960. She danced “Swan Lake,” “Sleeping Beauty” and also made her mark in Frederick Ashton’s “Monotones II,” “Enigma Variations” and many ballets by Kenneth MacMillan. She was well known for her roles in Bronislava Nijinska’s “Les Biche” and “Les Noces” and also took a turn in Jerome Robbins’ “Dances at a Gathering.” She never had to ask for a role, and her only regret was that she did not get a chance to dance “Giselle.” Upon her retirement from the Royal Ballet, Parkinson, at the suggestion of Nora Kaye and Herbert Ross, joined ABT, which was then under the direction of Lucia Chase, later Baryshnikov and today with Kevin McKenzie, as a ballet master coaching the company’s repertoire including the MacMillan ballets she appeared in.
Benjamin recently appeared as a guest artist with Christopher Wheeldon’s company Morphoses in London and New York. Parkinson occasionally appears in character roles with ABT. Roy Round has published a book “Round The Ballet” with photographs of dancers from American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, and Tobias Round has a new show on in London’s West End.
There is now another member of this family…5-year-old Thomas, yet to decide what path his future will take. Six degrees of separation? No, it’s just all in the family.