Ruth Cansfield is known for making dance that is pure, distinct and expressive.  She draws inspiration from the power, beauty and isolation of the Canadian prairies to create dance that has been described as timeless, yet vibrantly contemporary.  Ruth Cansfield's many years of Modern Dance training (Graham, Limon, Cunningham), Classical Ballet, and studies in Laban Movement Analysis have provided her with a wealth of information about the almost limitless potential of the human body, and with each dance she creates a specific and unique movement vocabulary. Sometimes her choreography describes a psychological journey that renders her work dramatic. Ruth Cansfield has created twenty three original dances.

As a young professional dancer, Ruth Cansfield was described as "a dancer of singular beauty and poetry" by the London Times at the Gala performance at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa (1981).   

In 1990, following her extensive professional performing career, Ruth Cansfield began deconstructing formal dance technique, inventing her own movement language thus revealing her own chroreographic voice.  Ruth Cansfield has been commissioned dances by: The Performing Arts Center at SUNY Purchase, Westchester County; DuMaurier New Music Festival, Winnipeg; The National Arts Centre, Ottawa.   Her choreography has been influenced by post modern dance expressionism.

Ruth Cansfield was born in England.