Benazir Surtees (born 1 July 1972; née Hussain) is a British-Indian retired ballerina who was a soloist at the

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

, Covent Garden.

Early life

Surtees was born in Madras and raised in London.

Career

Surtees was made soloist in 1994 at the

, where she took over roles such as the Lilac Fairy in

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

. She is particularly known for her appearance in the recorded performance of

in winter 1994. Her other appearances include Frederick Ashton's Illuminations. After her final appearance as Gamzatti in

La Bayadere LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

she left the Royal Ballet and moved to Australia in 1997. Surtees' first husband was her Royal Ballet colleague Errol Pickford whom she had married in August 1996 and whose new contract with the West Australian Ballet had in fact triggered this transfer. After a year working at the Australian Ballet she continued her career at the

West Australian Ballet West Australian Ballet is the State ballet company of Western Australia and is based in Perth, at the Western Australian Ballet Centre in Maylands. The company was founded in 1952 by Madame Kira Bousloff (formerly of the Ballets Russes) and ...

in Perth from 1998 until her retirement in 2005. Her notable work during that time include Ted Bransen's production of Carmen (1999, studio-recorded in 2002) which she performed together with Daryl Brandwood and her appearances in her final year included 'La Bohème - The Ballet.'

Personal life

She is the younger sister of the cricketer

Nasser Hussain Nasser Hussain (born 28 March 1968) is a British cricket commentator and former cricketer who captained the England cricket team between 1999 and 2003, with his overall international career extending from 1990 to 2004. A pugnacious right-ha ...

. In 2004, she married Craig Surtees, and their daughter was born in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hussain, Benair 1972 births Living people British ballerinas British people of Indian descent Hussain family