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Toby Bennett

Head of Dance

Telephone : +44 (0)20 8392 3671
Email : T.Bennett@roehampton.ac.uk
Department : Dance
Office location : Lawrence 004

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About

Toby is interested in a mixture of practical and theoretical areas in dance drawing on his experience as a dancer and his previous studies in Biology at the University of Nottingham. Having gained a BSc (first class) in Biology he then trained in ballet and contemporary dance at the Ballet Rambert School. He has a particular interest in the Cecchetti Method having studied this with various teachers including Richard Glasstone and Brynar Mehl, and holds the Enrico Cecchetti Final Diploma. After three years dancing with the Ballet de l'Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Belgium he started teaching in higher education, firstly at Middlesex University and then at Roehampton.

Research Interests

Toby's main research interests are in ballet technique and the education of dancers. He has given conference presentations and published papers on the Cecchetti 'Method' and in 2007 published 'The Cecchetti Legacy' (Dance Books Ltd.) co-authored with Dr Ann Hutchinson Guest. More recent work focuses on dancer education and training.

Other interests include dance science, for which he draws on his earlier training in biology; and folk dance of which he has considerable experience as a performer in various styles including Cotswold Morris, Appalachian step dance and English step clog dance (he won the Westmorland Open Clog Dance Title for 1985).

Teaching Interests

Toby's main teaching areas are: ballet technique, Labanotation, and anatomy and physiology as well as lecturing on the MA programmes in areas related to his research interests.

Videos

Dance

Publications

Bennett, Toby & Giannandrea Poesio (2000) Mime in the Cecchetti 'Method', Dance Research, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Summer), 31-43.
Guest, Ann Hutchinson & Toby Bennett (2007) The Cecchetti Legacy: An analysis and description of the Cecchetti Method of Classical ballet, Dance Books: Alton.
Bennett, Toby (2003) The Articulate Lower Leg: An Exploration into the Effects of Changes in Jumping Technique in Ballet, Proceedings Society of Dance History Scholars, 1-7.
Bennett, Toby (2009) Inside the studio and inside the movement – examining the learning potential of dance technique, de Montfort University, Leicester: CORD/CEPA conference 'Global perspectives on dance pedagogy - research and practice'.
Bennett, Toby (2001) Cecchetti then and now: some thoughts on the Cecchetti heritage, London: Cecchetti Centre, Lecture demonstration.
Bennett, Toby (1998) Cecchetti, Movement and the Repertoire in Performance, Proceedings Society of Dance History Scholars, 203-210.
Bennett, Toby (1997) Cecchetti and the British Tradition, Dance Now, vol. 6, no.3, 55-59.
Bennett, Toby (2007) Working with the Cecchetti Method: Technique and style in contemporary ballet training, http://www.sdr-uk.org/publications.asp#procs, 20-32.
Bennett, Toby (2003) A Rich and Varied Palette? Artistic choice and changes in the teaching of ballet, www.eadh.com.

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