Monica Parker

Born in Devon (England) where she started dancing aged ten, before studying at the Royal Ballet School, Monica Parker became interested in her teens in dance notation through meeting Rudolf Benesh' wife Joan, with whom she co-founded the Benesh Institute of Choreology (1965-1967), whose Principal she became on Benesh' death in 1975.

In 1967 she became Principal Dance Notator at the Deutsche Oper Ballett in Berlin, then under the artistic directorship of Kenneth MacMillan, with whose ballets she has enjoyed a long and important association. In 1970 MacMillan was appointed Director of the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden, and Monica's notation skills were enlisted in London, where she has remained as the Royal Ballet's Principal Dance Notator.

She has staged the Royal Ballet's works (and especially the MacMillan repertoire) around the world, including Royal Swedish Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, National Ballet of Canada and the Paris Opera Ballet.

A leading representative, advocate and champion of the Benesh Institute of Choreology, Monica Parker has attended conferences and lectured around the world and published key texts on dance notation and the Benesh system.