In 1966, my father, visual artist Humphrey Bennett, left the UK for the Netherlands, for love of my mother. He made the Netherlands his home and stayed building an extensive oeuvre centred on drawings of dancers. Dance became his lifelong fascination. Granted rare permission to attend weekly rehearsals of the Dutch National Ballet and Scapino Ballet, he would sit for hours, sketching the dancers in motion. This dedication resulted in beautiful ink drawings, a body of work he continued daily, right up until his death in 2020.
In 2025, I took the initiative to create a book titled Still Moving, together with René Bakker. Since In 1979 René makes beautiful books under the name of Atalanta Pers., René Bakker is the designer, printer, and publisher. His wife Tineke Bakker does the handbinding for nearly all of the publications.
Still Moving brings together a carefully curated selection of these dance drawings. I respond to my father’s work with a short dance film. This book was meant not only as a tribute to my father, but above all as an ode to art making itself. In this publication, a dialogue unfolds between my father’s dance drawings and a dance film I made with dancer Nicole Kohlmann. Shaped as a visual dialogue, a close collaboration between daughter and father. I’ve worked with Nicole before, when I was 27, my father introduced us for a film I was making at the time.
The book Still Moving presents itself as a case that unfolds on the left, a 10-inch screen with controls for viewing the film; on the right, a book containing Humphrey Bennett’s dance drawings. The book includes an introduction by Ed Wubbe, former director of Scapino Ballet, and a piece by René Bakker based on conversations we had while making the book.
All information on the book and how to order this is found here.
Credits of the film are the following,
Dance Nicole Kohlmann
Director Simone Bennett
Camera Lonneke Worm
Editing Avi Krispin
Soundtrack Peter Vandrie
Incorporating paper sounds from the studio of Humphrey Bennett recorded by Daniel Bennett.
With help on lights by Yella May Matilda Brand
Filmed at Balletschool Marut Jorquera
Thank you
Jaap Sijben
Jimy Silva de Almeida
Luna Bennett Almeida
Frank Berger
Daan de Boer
Henk Keilman & Rasarani Keilman
Ivo Raposo
This work is made possible by a contribution by Gemeente Baarn.