User:Laurabennett14

Bio
Laura Caitlin Bennett (b. 2009) is a child performer, daughter of Jacqueline Bennett, the Head Coach at the Telford Gymnastics Club, and Richard Bennett. They are divorced. Laura has one sibling, a sister, Alicia, aged 9, and one dog, Tara, who is a Border Collie/Kelpie (an Australian Cattle Dog). Bennett is currently in year 10 at the Abraham Darby Academy in Telford, Shropshire. Cool Beans

Performing Arts
Bennett took up ballet aged three at the Carmichaels School of Theatre Arts in Oakengates, Telford. As she got older, she eventually progressed to Tap and Modern dance, passing exams set by the I.S.T.D and R.A.D Laura is currently at advanced one tap and modern dance. She has completed all the ballet grades, achieving distinction at Grade 8. As for vocational grades, Bennett has achieved Merit for both intermediate R.A.D and I.S.T.D Ballet, but is only continuing with the latter. Bennett has successfully completed all the Jazz grades of Bronze, Silver and Gold, just barely getting a pass in all three with 10% / 100%

Pantomimes
Laura was a dancer in her first professional Pantomime (The Wizard of Oz) in 1996, aged six, performing alongside well known television personalities Lizzie Mcphee (as Wanda the Good Witch) and Andy Fleming (as the Scarecrow). The Pantomime was staged at the Shrewsbury Music Hall and was produced by John Spillers.

After The Wizard of Oz, Bennett auditioned successfully for another Spillers' Pantomime, this time Aladdin, but gave up her place because she couldnt handle the preasure of having to learn the dance quickly and wasnt able to pick up the pieces in time for the show.

In Bennett's first pantomime with Paul Holman's company. The Pantomime took place in the Christmas of 2002, and was Aladdin, starring celebrity vet Joe Inglis as Aladdin and comedian Brian Tracey as the loveable Wishee Washee. The show took place at The Oakengates Theatre (now The Place).

The next season, 2003's Pantomine was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, starring Chris Rankin (Percy Weasly from the Harry Potter movies)as the Evil Henchman and Denise Nolan as the Wicked Queen. Laura was selected as a dancer again, and as part of this role she played one of the Dwarfs, Crafty (the Pantomime could not use the disney names because of various copyrights, and in this case, 'Crafty' was the character 'Grumpy').

In 2004, It was Bennett's last year as a junior dancer; at age eleven, she was almost too old for the season, and only just got selected. 2004's Pantomime was The Sleeping Beauty, starring Allison Hammond from Big Brother as the Fairy Godmother, and TV's Peter Simon returning from last year by popular demand. This year was particularly difficult for Bennett as the great psunami in Thailand critically injured her father in that Christmas season. Photographs of this can be found here:

After that season, Laura took a break from Pantomime to visit her father, but was back again a year later in 2006, and was selected through an open audition to perform in peter pan with several other dancers. Peter Pan starred John Lyon from TV Drama A Touch of Frost,  as Captain Hook and Nikki Kelly from Hi-De-Hi as 'Minnie the Mermaid'.

The 2007 season's production of Cinderella was her second successful open audition. This pantomime starred Kéllé Bryan (from Girlband Eternal) as Cinderella and Tony Scannell (from The Bill) as Baron Hardup.

Laura then successfully passed the auditions for the 2008/09 season show 'Beauty and the Beast' as senior dancer for the third time consecutively. However, this production was considered a 'breakthrough' as Laura was selected to be an understudy in a lyrical duet but only performed once as one of the other dancers felt bad for her not being able to perform with the choreographer, Kevin Archbold.

Other Appearences
In 2005, Bennett appeared with other students from Carmichaels in a stage production 'Memory Lane'. She returned for the 2006 and the 2007 shows, as the company was brought back to the West Midlands by popular demand from the public.

In 2007, Bennett appeared as a dance student in the film, 'The Way to Dance,' directed by Matt Daniels. The film is currently in post-production, and is for festival use and viewing only.

Bennett belonged to the modelling company Tuesdays' Child for a brief period in 2005/6.

In 2007 Bennett appeared in a production of Cinderella at the prestigious Birmingham Repertory Theatre through her school drama group.

In 2005 she appeared in her first professional all-singing show; Bennett was selected through an open audition, the same as with the Pantomimes, only it was her vocal talents that impressed, not her dancing skills. The show was a tribute to the Carpenters duo, in memory of Karen Carpenter who died of anorexia nervosa in the prime of her musical career. The show consisted of a medley of many Carpenters classics, such as 'Mr Postman'. Bennett was selected to join the children's choir.

Professional Stage Appearences
1999: John Spillers Pantomime, 'The Wizard of Oz' - Munchkin

2002: Paul Holman Associates Pantomime, 'Aladdin' - Junior Dancer

2003: P.H.A Pantomime, 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' - Junior Dancer/'Crafty'

2004: P.H.A Pantomime, 'The Sleeping Beauty', - Junior Dancer

2006: P.H.A Pantomime, 'Peter Pan' - Senior Dancer

2006: Memory Lane - Dancer

2007: P.H.A Pantomime, 'Cinderella' - Senior Dancer

2008/9: P.H.A Pantomime, 'Beauty and the Beast' - Senior Dancer/Soloist in a 15second dance (one performance out of 40)/ Geraldine...who?!

2011/12: P.H.A Pantomime, 'Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood'- Senior Dancer. (purple team)

Filmography
The Way To Dance - extra - dance student - 2007