Benoît Egloff

Benoît studied dance in France, first at the Paris Opera Ballet School and then at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse. Upon graduating from the Paris Conservatoire, Benoît collaborated in the creation of two seminal dance pieces: Plastic Mythology (by Ashley Page) and Light Fandango (by Robert North), both of which now tour globally and are part of the repertoire of numerous companies. That same year, the Conservatoire received permission for Benoît to perform Balanchine’s Apollo.

He began his performing career at the age of 19 with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Canada, and later danced for Ballet Basel in Switzerland. During this period, he toured China, Australia, the United States, France, Germany, Hungary, and Canada. As a performer, his credits include Giselle, Coppélia, The Nutcracker, and works or creations by Balanchine (Apollo, Theme and Variations...), as well as pieces by esteemed choreographers such as Nacho Duato, Jiří Kylián, Catherine Habasque, William Forsythe, Lucinda Childs, Richard Wherlock, José Limón, Merce Cunningham, Ashley Page, Septime Webre, Robert North, Douglas Becker, and Kevin O’Day, to name just a few.

During his time with Ballett Basel, Benoît developed a passion for choreography and took opportunities to create work for the company.

After suffering an injury that curtailed his stage career and enduring a gruelling recovery, Benoît pivoted his focus and established himself in the UK as a freelance dance artist. Here, he specialised in performing, teaching, choreographing, and restaging works for companies and institutions such as the Centre for Advanced Training (C.A.T) national scheme, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, The Royal Ballet School’s Associates and Partnership & Access programme, Dance Base Edinburgh, and Scottish Ballet.

Since last September, Benoît has been teaching the professional ballet class as part of the professional programme at Dance Base, Edinburgh. In October 2024, he was invited to teach the company class for Ballet Rambert during the Peaky Blinders Edinburgh tour. Likewise, Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures recently appointed him to teach the company class during the Scottish tour of Swan Lake in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.

Benoît completed his teaching qualification in classical ballet—the French Diplôme d’État de Professeur de Danse—in 2001. In 2013, he moved to Scotland, where he played a key role in developing classical training within various institutions. In 2016, he also gained his TQFE (Teaching Qualification in Further Education), delivered by the University of Aberdeen.