birth_place awards nationality birth_date period genre article_title name born occupation
perth , australia guggenheim fellowship australian 1958 -lrb- age 57 -rrb- 1982-present non-fiction toni bentley
 toni bentley toni eva bentley writer
toni bentley

toni bentley -lrb- born 1958 -rrb- is an australian-american dancer and writer .
bentley was born in perth , australia .
her father , p. j. bentley , is an australian biologist and endocrinologist .
her brother , dr. david bentley , is a molecular biologist at the university of denver , co. .
she took her first ballet class at age four in bristol , england and entered the school of american ballet , the official school of new york city ballet , at age ten .
at age seventeen she joined george balanchine 's new york city ballet where she performed for ten years under his tutelage .
she retired from the stage at age of twenty-six due to a hip injury .
