ÓLÖF INGÓLFSDÓTTIR
Born April 1st, 1962
EDUCATION
2010 - 2019 Söngskóli Sigurðar Demetz and Domus Vox
Advanced level in solo singing and music theory
2014 - 2016 University of Iceland
MA in Applied Culture and Communication
1993 - 2011 Critical Response Process - feedback method for creative work in process
Various workshops in movement practice, tango, tai chi and improvisation
1989 - 1993 Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Dance and choreography
1987 - 1988 Suomen Kuvataideakademia, Helsinki, Finland
Painting, guest student
1983 - 1987 Iceland College of Arts and Crafts
Painting
WORK
2017 - Dansverkstæðið, project manager
2018 ICE HOT Nordic Dance Platform - Reykjavik 2018, project co-ordinator, artists communication
2017 - 2018 University of Iceland,
reception and in-house guide at Veröld - hús Vigdísar, language department
2016 - 2017 Crisscross travel company, co-owner and tour guide
2014 - 2015 Dansverkstæðið, manager
2013 - 2014 Various projects in dance and theatre
2005 - 2013 Iceland University of the Arts - performing arts department,
adjunct, teaching movement for actors and other courses
2012 Icelandic Music Information Center, special project
2003 - 2005 Iceland University of the Arts, workshop teacher
2000 IETM Reykjavik meeting, management of artistic program
1999 - 2000 2000 children in Reykjavik 2000, project planning team
1995 - 1997 Kramhúsið, manager
1993 - 2015 Dance and theatre, choreography and performance.
For an overview of my artistic work please go to ART
OTHER
2018 - Chairman of board, Menningarfélag Tjarnarbíós, Tjarnarbíó theatre
2018 ICE HOT Nordic Dance Platform - Reykjavik 2018, selection jury for artistic presentations
2017 - 2018 Theatre Council, one of three members of artists' grants jury
2015 - 2019 Singer with Vox feminae, women's choir
2014 - 2017 Chairman of board, Dansverkstæðið
2013 Theatre Council, one of three members of artists' grants jury
2010 Founding member of Dansverkstæðið
2010 Jury for artistic program of Keðja - Reykjavík and
artistic production of Keðja Night Adventure art tour together with Steinunn Knútsdóttir
2009 - 2014 Chairman, Tango Club Reykjavik
2004 - 2005 Program planning group for a new study line of contemporary dance
at Iceland University of the Arts
2003 - 2009 Festival of Micro Dances together with Steinunn Knútsdóttir
2003 - 2005 Board member, Children's Culture Fund
2002 - 2009 Founding member and production of Reykjavik Dance Festival
2001 - 2005 Chairman, Icelandic Association of Professional Dancers, FÍLD
2001 - 2005 Board member, Federation of Icelandic Artists, BÍL
1999 - 2003 Board member, Association of Independent Theatres in Iceland, SL
1997 - 2001 Board member, Icelandic Association of Professional Dancers, FÍLD
1983 - 1985 Chairman, ICYE Iceland, international youth exchange program
LANGUAGES
Icelandic - excellent skills in spoken and written Icelandic, my mother tongue
English - good speaking and writing skills
Swedish - good conversational skills, not so good at writing
German - good reading understanding, the spoken word a bit rusty
Finnish - some skills in understanding written and spoken language
Dutch - some skills in understanding written language
Italian - I'm working on it
I am proud of my part in building a strong dance community in Iceland through different dance initiatives and organizations. I am a founding member of Reykjavik Dance Festival and Dansverkstæðið, who have become two strong pillars in the infrastructure of dance in Iceland. I have been on the board of many artists' associations and sat on juries selecting artistic program or giving grants to artists. Through all this work I have gained insight into the structures around performing arts in particular and to some extent all the arts.
Languages have always been of interest to me and I cherish words well chosen and carefully crafted texts. When I have stayed abroad for a longer time, I have tried to get at least some understanding of the language. Although I made some progress, five weeks in Buenos Aires was not enough to learn Spanish. A whole winter in Helsinki in 1987 - 1988 resulted in the ability to uphold simple conversations in Finnish, but after thirty years of not being used, that knowledge is pretty rusty. A year as an exchange student in Germany in 1981 - 1982 gave me excellent skills in German, but today I notice that when I speak German my Icelandic accent is rather thick. Like all Icelanders I learned Danish in school. Later I had a summer job in Norway and during my time in Finland I picked up Finland - Swedish. This comes together as "Scandinavian" which most of the time sounds a lot like Swedish, but gives poor spelling when writing texts.
I have continued learning and studying throughout my life and still I continue. Art has been my field of work and as interests shift and abilities change I have met another art form to dive into. I have found that whatever the art form or channel for expression, the artist remains the same.
The performing arts, dance and theatre have been my main field of work since 1993 when I finished my dance education. I was a choreographer and performer, making my own productions and participating in other atrists' projects, but also a teacher and organizer of events and initiatives that would change the structure of the field. After leaving my position at the University of the Arts I have had various jobs, often overlapping part time jobs, mainly around dance, but also gathering other experiences.
Despite staying four years in The Netherlands, my Dutch is not at all good. I have a fairly good understanding when reading, but as most of the students and staff of the school where I trained were not Dutch, we always spoke English, so I got very little practice in spoken Dutch. Finally there is Italian. One byproduct of studying classical singing is that one starts to pick up words and phrases from the texts, which happen to be in many languages. A lot of opera arias are in Italian, but phrases from baroque opera are not very practical in today's Italy. I have for example not yet found an aria where the character orders a meal in a restaurant or buys an ice cream. I have therefore started studying Italian for everyday use.