Kathryn Bennetts

Kathryn Bennetts is an esteemed Australian ballet master, celebrated for her contributions to contemporary ballet and her collaborations with leading choreographers.

Bennetts began her training at the Scully-Borovansky School of Ballet and was accepted into the Australian Ballet School at the age of 15. She joined the Australian Ballet three years later and subsequently moved to the Stuttgart Ballet under Marcia Haydée, where she rose to the rank of soloist. During her nine years with the company, she worked with renowned choreographers such as Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Glen Tetley, Hans van Manen, Lar Lubovitch, Heinz Spoerli, John Neumeier, Maurice Béjart, and William Forsythe. An injury ended her performing career earlier than expected, leading her to pursue teaching. She completed a two-year teacher training course with Alexander Ursuliak and began teaching at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, later becoming a senior teacher at the National Ballet School in Toronto. She also guest taught for numerous companies worldwide. 

In 1989, William Forsythe invited Bennetts to join the Frankfurt Ballett as ballet mistress, a position she held for 15 years. She staged many of Forsythe’s ballets for companies worldwide, including the Paris Opera Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Australian Ballet, Royal Ballet and La Scala. 

From 2005 to 2012, Bennetts served as the artistic director of the Royal Ballet of Flanders. Under her leadership, the company achieved significant acclaim, receiving the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2008 and nominations as Outstanding Company by the London Circle Critics Awards in 2008 and 2012. In 2012, she was awarded the Prix de la Critique by Parisian dance critics for her work with the Forsythe repertoire at the Royal Ballet of Flanders. 

Since 2020, Bennetts has been collaborating with the European School of Ballet in Amsterdam as a guest ballet mistress, continuing to coach and stage William Forsythe's works worldwide.  In 2019, she staged Forsythe’s “Artifact Suite” with the Vienna State Ballet, and in the 2023/24 season, she returned to stage “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated”.