Born in the USA, Amanda Bennett received her training at the School of American Ballet in New York, where her teachers included Stanley Williams, Suki Shorer, Alexandra Danilova, Felia Dubrovska, Antonia Tumkovsky, and Hélène Dudin.
Ms. Bennett’s professional career started with Le Ballet du Grand Théatre de Genève (Artistic Director George Balanchine/Acting Director Patricia Neary). From 1978 to 1989 she joined Basel Ballet (Director Heinz Spoerli) as Principal Dancer and she later performed with Pennsylvania Ballet – now Philadelphia Ballet – (Artistic Director Robert Weiss). Her repertoire included leading roles in classics such as Giselle, Swan Lake, Nutcracker and La Fille mal Gardée, the works of George Balanchine, Hans van Manen and Nils Christe. She also created many principal and soloist roles for Heinz Spoerli.
Ms. Bennett is a Certified Teacher of the American Ballet Theatre National Training Curriculum and has served as a member of the jury for many international competitions including Youth America Grand Prix, Vaganova Competition, and Prix de Lausanne where she served as the Artistic Director from 2012 to 2017. At the Prix de Lausanne she introduced choreographers Goyo Montero, Yorma Elo, Mauro Bigonzetti, and Richard Wherlock to the event and was responsible for launching the first live-streaming of the competition.
In 2001 Ms. Bennett founded the Ballettschule Theater Basel that over the next twenty-two years, developed into one of the most respected dance education institutions in Europe. In 2015, she was awarded the Heinz Spoerli Foundation Prize for her outstanding work as Director of Ballettschule Theater Basel.
Ms. Bennett has worked as a guest teacher for Ballet Basel, the Feld Ballet in New York, the Ballet du Grand Theatre de Genève, Bern Ballet and the Palucca Hochschule Dresden among others. She also served as Ballet Mistress for the Lucerne Ballet and Ballet Freiburg Pretty Ugly.
Amanda Bennett started collaborating with ESB in 2024.