Benesh Movement Notation to train young dancers in Frederick Ashton’s repertoire
The Royal Academy of Dance‘s Benesh International has collaborated with The Frederick Ashton Foundation and Royal Ballet School on a new project where Ashton’s choreographies will be taught to young dancers through Benesh Movement Notation (BMN). Students will learn variations from Ashton’s works including Les Rendezvous, The Dream and Les Patineurs.
Melanie Simpkin, Head of Benesh International says: “This project serves to highlight the use of Benesh Movement Notation in a new and holistic way of training young dancers and introduce them to repertoire at a young age – said Melanie Simpkin, Head of Benesh International – Benesh Movement Notation is such a valuable tool, not only in the preservation of the repertoire but also as a teaching resource.
This project will also serve to introduce notation both to young dancers early in their training, and also to teachers who will quickly learn to see the benefit of teaching from a score rather than from a historical text or video.
Benesh International is the home of Benesh Movement Notation, is a written system for recording human movement devised by Rudolf and Joan Benesh, and first published in 1956.
Formerly the Benesh Institute, since 1997 Benesh International has been incorporated within the Royal Academy of Dance and supports the dance profession by preserving choreographic copyright, training the next generation of choreologists, and supporting the Benesh Movement Notation community.
The notation of each of these choreographies are part of a resource pack for teachers on the Royal Ballet School’s Affiliate Training Programme. Dance teachers will have access to written materials in accompanying resource packs including notated scores of each variation, recorded using Benesh Movement Notation, plus online footage of répétiteurs from The Ashton Foundation coaching students and using the BMN scores as a teaching tool.
For more information on Benesh International visit: https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/benesh-international-benesh-movement-notation/
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
