Artist in Residence at The International Dance Program in Stockholm, 1 March–29 May 2026

Halla Ólafsdóttir is a choreographer and dancer who attended the Stockholm Ballet Academy and the Master’s Program in Choreography at SKH. She always works collectively and with a feminist perspective, often as part of a choreographic duo. Through collaborations, she wants to challenge the idea of ​​the lone (male) genius and instead create space for support, shared practice and a discourse that broadens the understanding of what dance and choreography can be. A large part of her practice is based on recognizable material from art and popular culture, where she examines what happens when it is put in a different context. Halla likes to use conventions and clichés, and then break them down, stretch them and blur them.

Together with Amanda Apetrea, she has created and toured the performances The Selkie Poetry Reading (2025), Sälkvinnorna (2023), DEAD (2017) and Beauty and the Beast (2011) which won the Prix Jardin d’Europe Awards 2013. Halla and Eliisa Erävalo have created the performances Lunatic (2025), Granddaughters (2022), Bitch (2021) and BITCHCRAFT (2017). Together with Erna Ómarsdóttir, Halla has created Julia & Romeo (2024), The Juliet Duet (2022) and Romeo <3 Juliet (2018) which was nominated for the DER FAUST prize 2019.

Halla has choreographed for several dance companies such as Cullberg (SE), Iceland Dance Company (IS), Böler Samvirkelag (NO), Gärtnerplatztheater company (DE) and Ballet Basel (CH). As a dancer, she has worked and collaborated with choreographers and collectives such as; Samlingen, Dorte Olesen, Inpex, Mychoreography, Nadja Hjorton and The Knife. Halla likes to experiment with different expressions and formats in her work and has acted in films by Ester Martin Bergsmark, Sidney Leoni and Joachim Koester.

During the residency she continues her investigation of how politics and gender are projected onto the body’s movements through daily dance practice, collective Witch Meetings and artistic collaborations. She explores ideas around the dance performance Cinda(f*****)rella*, the album Womb of the world and plays with empowering myths about the (female) body, the diva who shamelessly takes her place and owns her dance, her voice and her sexuality.