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Staff

Managers

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Hrafnhildur Einarsdóttir

Principal of Klassíska listdansskólans

Hrafnhildur Einarsdóttir took over the management of Klassíski listdansskólinn in the autumn of 2017. In the same year, she founded Dansgarðurinn, an umbrella project that manages Klassíski listdansskólinn, FWD Youth Company, Dance for All and Óskandi. Hrafnhildur graduated with a BA in dance art and choreography from Trinity Laban in London, in the spring of 2009. She has worked as an independent dance artist and choreographer, both with her own projects and with dance groups both in Iceland and abroad. She is also part of Interferencia's research project on performance art. Hrafnhildur has been on the board of the Reykjavík Dance Festival since 2011, and has also been on the board of FÍLD - the Association of Icelandic Dance Artist and the board of the Association for a Dance House in Iceland. Hrafnhildur has taught at Klassíski listdansskólinn for a long time, but she has also taught courses for children and adults in Italy, Sweden, Norway and Mexico. Hrafnhildur is passionate about building a stronger dance community in Iceland and continues to build the education system around dance art for children and young dancers in Iceland as well as increasing access to dance for the general public and all children.

Email: hrafnhildur@ballet.is

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Guðrún Óskarsdóttir

Principal of Óskandi

Guðrún Óskarsdóttir is the principal and owner of Óskanda; dancer and dance teacher as well as yoga teacher with special training in pregnancy/maternity yoga, kids' yoga and yoga for children with special needs. She added studies in infant massage from Liddle Kidz and children's motor development from Baby Bare, in addition, she did teacher training at Creative Dance Center, which bases its pedagogy on children's motor development process. She also attended a doula course at Bastyr University/Simkin Center in Seattle and a course with Penny Simkin on the effects of childhood sexual violence on pregnant mothers. Recently Guðrún attended a basic level Pikler course, the Autonomous Play Activity for ages 0 - 3, led by Pikler House Budapest. Guðrún is qualified to teach PBT classes and has an MA degree from the Art Education Department of the Iceland Academy of the Arts. She is currently a student at the School for Body-Mind Centering. 

Guðrún began her dance studies at Guðbjargar Björgvin's Ballet School, graduated from Listdansskóli Íslands, completed a diploma from the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Stockholm and professional training from the Icelandic Dance Company and Dansk dansetheater in Copenhagen. In addition, she has attended numerous dance courses. She danced with the Icelandic dance company and worked with choreographers Rami Be'er, Didy Veldman, Stephen Shropshire, Jóhanni Frey Björgvinsson and Helena Jónsdóttur, among others. She founded the dance group Darí Darí Dance Company together with two other dancers and has had the opportunity to work independently with choreographers, small dance groups and has been on the board of festivals and institutions.

 

Guðrún is very interested in children's motor development in the first year and how exercise and the environment play an important role in the child's development. Guðrún enjoys being with students, leading other teachers in their work and having good relations with parents. She thinks it's wonderful to watch the students develop and see the small victories that are so big.

Email: gudrun@oskandi.is

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Ernesto Camilo Aldazabal Valdes

Head of the contemporary dance department in KLS and teacher

Ernesto Camilo was born in Cuba in 1990. He graduated from La Escuela Nacional de Arte (Dance School in Cuba) as a dance teacher and dancer. In 2008 he started working for the dance group "Danza Espiral" in Cuba. Camilo went to Mexico as a teacher and dancer in 2010. In 2011 he came to Iceland where he participated in various shows and courses. In 2012 he worked for one year at Point Dansstudíó in Akureyri as a modern dance teacher. At that time he also worked on two dance works with Anna Richardsdóttir, Inanna, Ereskigal, Oggun, Freyja and did a children's piece. In 2013 he started working as a modern dance teacher at Klassíski listdansskólinn and is still there. At that time Camilo also taught for Salsa Iceland and was invited to dance and teach at two salsa congresses in Norway and Sweden. In 2016, Camilo worked as a choreographer and dancer with Forward Youth Company in the dance piece RITMO. He played in Áramótaskaupið (the icelandic New Year's sketch show) in 2016. Camilo has worked as a dancer and actor for the Borgarleikhúsið (City theatre in Reykjavík), Þjóleikhúsið (National theatre of Iceland), the Icelandic Dance Company and the Icelandic Opera. In 2019, he was nominated for Actor of the Year in Sögur - The Children's Award Ceremony and Dancer of the Year at Gríman.

 

Email: camilo@ballet.is

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Yannier Oviedo

Head of the classical art dance department in KLS and teacher

Yannier Oviedo was born and raised in Matanzas, Cuba. He started dancing ballet at the age of 8 and won silver and gold medals at the International Ballet Competition in Havana. Yannier graduated as a ballet dancer and teacher from Ena University of Havana in 2010 and was hired as a dancer in the Ballet de Camaguey. In 2011, he was chosen by a large group of dancers to dance in the Ballet Revolution and danced with them all over the world. Yannier has been in Iceland since 2013, teaching ballet in several schools, dancing in the Borgarleikhúsið and with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

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Katla Þórarinsdóttir

Head of the department of elementary level and pre-school in KLS, and teacher

Katla studied and trained her body in classical ballet from childhood and began teaching at an early age under the guidance of Guðbjörg Asdrid Skúladóttir, the founder of Klassíski listdansskólinn. Teaching was her passion and she graduated from the University of Iceland - School of Education in 2001. Later, when Katla discovered modern dance, her path led her to Laban Trinity, London, where she graduated with a masters degree in dance and teaching in 2006. Since then, she has worked as a professional dancer, choreographer and dance teacher. Katla founded the dance group Dari Dari Dance Company and produced and performed three completed works with them, all of which were performed at dance festivals across Europe. Despite this success, the heart of the clown always beat in the body of the modern dancer. When Katla worked in Italy as a dancer, she got to know the circus better and it wasn't long until she started to shine brightly at the most prestigious street art festivals in Europe as a balance acrobat and acrobatic dancer. In 2009, she founded Circus Íslands together with others and led that group until 2012 when she decided to turn to other projects. In 2015, she started working with Fidget Feet, an Irish acrobatic and circus group, on the piece Fjadrafok, which was produced in collaboration with Bíbí og Blaka. Since then, the work has grown and has already been shown over 100 times in 10 countries. Katla loves to teach and has been teaching at Klassíski listdansskólinn for over 20 years and always looks forward to welcoming a new group of students in the fall and accompanying them through the world of dance.

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Aude Busson

Project manager

Aude Busson has been the project manager of Dansgarðurinn since 2017. Aude is in charge of "Dance for all" and of the goal of making dance more accessible. Aude is in charge of dance education days for the primary schools, Mjóddamamma, Dance Day at the Children's Culture Festival, Forward Youth Company and the student council of Klassíski listdansskólinn. Aude graduated with a BA in Theatre and Performance Making from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2011. She had previously completed DEUG's degree in Theater and Film Studies from the University of Rennes II, France, in 2001. Since graduating in 2011, Aude has worked as a director, supervisor and project manager. She is interested in creating shows and events based on audience participation, where the performers are not professionals or are for / with children. She has worked with several performing arts groups and also on her own works of art, for example I love Reykjavík, family walking exhibition, 2014. Aude has been on the board of Assitej in Iceland since 2013. She has taken on the artistic direction of Ungi, festival for children, in 2014 and was nominated for the DV Cultural Award. Aude was also the project manager for Unglingurinn in RDF from 2014-2016.

 

Email: dansgardurinn@gmail.com

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Ellen Harpa Kristinsdóttir

Office

Ellen began studying dance at the Ballet School of Guðbjörg Björgvin. She graduated from Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík (junior college) in 2005. After that she took a year in Klassíski listdansskólinn in the contemporary program and from there she went to London where she completed a BA degree in dance art from Trinity Laban, 2010. Since then she has organized dance classes and performances. She teaches ballet, modern dance and creative dance. In 2018, she graduated with an MA degree in Practical Cultural Communication from the University of Iceland.

 

Email: info@ballet.is

Teachers- school year 2022-2023

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Alejandra P. De Avila

Teacher

Alejandra's background is in music and theatre and she is also a trained teacherin music and movement education. As a teacher and researcher, she hasspecialised in Voice & Movement with a somatic approach seeking thebalance in the body and aiming for the integrity of human expression.In 2017 she created the Sila II Act, a company that provides creativeworkshops and artistic research. Throughout the Sila II Act I not onlyhave developed her own educational  method that spreads into a wideaudience from amateurs to professionals but has also led workshops indiverse countries such as, Austria, Greenland, USA, Iceland andSweden. From 2017 – 2019 I worked as a teacher of Music and MovementRhythmical Educational at The Iceland Academy of the Arts. Her tasksincluded finalising curriculum for BA students.With her artistic career she has created, produced and performed her ownproductions in independent theatres and stages such as LalishTheaterLabor, AlteSchmiede, Interkulturelles Theater and MuThtheaterin Wien, Austria; Tjárnabío, Gamblabío, Gallery Kjarvalstaðir,Icelandic Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík, Iceland.After becoming a mother she has returned to amateur education, teachingdance and voice. In the last year she has also taking a position at thekindergarten teaching Music & Movement (Eurhythmics) to young childrenages 18 months - 5 years old.

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Alma Kristín Ólafsdóttir

Teacher

Alma Kristín began her ballet studies at Klassíski listdansskólinn in 2000, when she was four years old. She graduated from the school's advanced program in 2012. In 2016, the dance group FWD Youth Company was founded and Alma Kristín has been a member of the group until 2021. She has also attended summer courses abroad, both in Copenhagen and London. Alma Kristín has been teaching classical ballet at the school since 2015.  She is a trained nurse and has worked in the heart department of Landspítali. Now she studies midwifery at the University of Iceland.

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Amanda Líf Fritzdóttir

Teacher

Amanda Líf has been teaching students of all ages from 3 to 19 years old contemporary dance, creative dance and ballet since she was 17 years old. She has mostly taught at Dansgarður, Óskanda and Klassíski listdansskólinn, but she has also taught at JSB School of Dance, Edda Scheving's Ballet School and Mýrarhúsakóli/Valhúsakóli.

Amanda graduated from the dance program at the JSB dance school in 2018 and from the contemporary dance program at the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2021.

Amanda has always loved movement and art so dance has been a perfect combination of the two, she loves working with children and teenagers and is very interested in the interactions that take place there. Among other things, she has worked as a dancer in Joensuu, Finland, and for a long time she worked at a kindergarten.

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Andrea Urður Hafsteinsdóttir

Teacher

Andrea Urður began her ballet studies at the Sigríður Ármann Ballet School when she was four years old. At the age of 9, she moved to Listdansskóli Íslands and has danced with FWD Youth Company since 2017. Andrea started teaching ballet in 2014 in Klifið, which is a creative center for various art courses, where she taught students aged 3-7. In the summer of 2016, Andrea organized and directed a creative course for children aged 5-12, where great emphasis was placed on creative dance along with other art forms. Last autumn, Andrea started teaching in the preschool at Ballettskóli Guðbjörg Björgvins, now Óskandi, and primary level in Klassíski listdansskólinn in 2019. Andrea Urður is also a law student at the University of Iceland.

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Asako Ichihashi

Teacher

Asako studied ballet in Japan where she grew up. From there she went to the United States where she completed her B.F.A. degree in artistic dance in 1991 from Shenandoah University in Virginia. After completing her studies, she danced with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company in Ohio, USA. 

 

Asako moved to Iceland in 1993 and founded a Ballet School in Akureyri, which she ran for about seven years. She has also taught piano at the Eyjafjörður Music School. 

After she moved to the capital region, she has taught dance at Listdansskóli Íslands, Hafnarfjörður and Óskandi Dance School, and music and movement at Fögrubrekku Preschool in Kópavogur. 

In the spring of 2008, she completed her teaching qualification course at the Iceland Teachers College and has a high school teacher's qualification in dance. In the spring of 2021, she completed her master's degree in art education at the Iceland Academy of the Arts.

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Auður Ragnarsdóttir

Teacher

Auður is a dance teacher and choreographer by training. She started dance studies at a young age in classical ballet and jazz ballet. She moved to Iceland in 2002 and began studying dance at Klassíski listdansskólinn and completed the advanced course in contemporary dance in 2009. From there she went on to B.F.A. studies in choreography at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and later she completed her M.Art.Ed. degree in performing arts teaching at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. Auður has led various independent projects both in Iceland and abroad. Among other things she managed a youth exchange sponsored by Erasmus+ for students at Klassíski listdansskólinn, where they went to Portugal and made a performance in collaboration with a music school there. Auður loves dance in all its forms and has also practiced acrobatics, pole dancing and hip hop in recent years.

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Bjartey Elín Hauksdóttir

Teacher

Bjartey is a dancer and dance teacher. She graduated from the dance course in Iceland University of the Arts in the spring of 2021. Before that, she practiced ballet and contemporary dance in Klassíski listdansskólinn from the age of 4. Bjartey has been a dance teacher for 4 years and taught children and teenagers of all ages. Along with that, she has worked as a professional dancer both in Iceland and abroad.

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Emma Eyþórsdóttir

Teacher

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Eydís Rose Vilmundardóttir

Teacher

Eydís Rose Vilmundardóttir is a self-employed dancer and artist. She graduated with a BA degree in contemporary dance from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2016. She took a year off from studying in Iceland to study dance theater in England 2014-2015 under the direction of Jasmin Vardimon Company. She has had the honor of working with artists such as Jasmin Vardimon, Athanasia Kanellopoulou, Marilena Dara, Mafalda Deville, Saga Sigurðardóttir and Lucie Vigneault.

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Guðrún Svava Kristinsdóttir

Teacher

Guðrún Svava Kristinsdóttir is a graduate dancer and dance teacher from the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in New York City, she is one of the few teachers with these qualification in Europe. Guðrún Svava was also a dancer with Graham II, a student dance group of the Martha Graham Dance Company with whom she also trained.Guðrún Svava is also a yoga teacher and Pilates teacher and places special emphasis on good and correct application of the body based on each person's physique, but she has attended numerous courses in how to prevent and rehabilitate injuries with dancers in mind.In recent years, Guðrún Svava has taught and built up her own courses at the Iceland University of the Arts in the acting department, dance department and music department, and created a special course in anatomy for dancers that she has taught for all year groups since 2013.Guðrún Svava is also an engineer by education and recently graduated from Cornell University in New York with a dual MS in Information Science and Information Systems.Due to her diverse experience in the technology and art sector, she puts a lot of effort into her courses so that each individual can enjoy themselves mentally, physically and intellectually.Guðrún Svava puts a lot of effort into the technical development of dancers and uses years of experience from New York in this context. She also emphasizes the rhythm and musical sensitivity of her students mixed with the performance and theatrical expression of the dance.

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Hrund Elíasdóttir

Teacher

Hrund Elíasdóttir has worked at Klassíski listdansskólinn since 2013. She teaches ballet and has taught all age groups. Hrund began studying ballet at the age of 5 at the Edda Scheving Ballet School and moved to Klassíski listdansskólinn at the age of 16, where she graduated from the graduation program in 2010. She also studied at the Académie Américaine de Danse de Paris in France. In addition to teaching, she has a BA degree in Literature and French from the University of Iceland. She attended a ballet teacher training course at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in the summer of 2017 and was part of the FWD youth company in the winter of 2017-18.

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Júlía Kolbrún Sigurðardóttir

Teacher

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Katie Hitchcock

Teacher

Katie Hitchcock is a freelance dancer, originally from California, USA. She studied contemporary dance technique at Orange Coast College and dance, theater and performance at the University of California, Berkeley. Katie moved to Iceland in 2017 and was quickly connected to the Icelandic dance scene by dancing with the youth dance group Forward 2018-2022. This year she has taught ballet for children and adults in Óskanda and is developing the third part of the series of solo works "Disposable dances" that she has composed.

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Sara Margrét Ragnarsdóttir

Teacher

Sara Margrét graduated with a BA in contemporary dance from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2016. After graduation, she has worked on various projects with a diverse group of artists in the independent dance scene in Iceland and Denmark, both as a performer and choreographer. Along with this, Sara has taught children and teenagers ballet, contemporary dance and creative dance.

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Sara Katrín Kristjánsdóttir

Teacher

Sara Katrín was born and raised in Reykjavík and started ballet with Edda Scheving when she was 5 years old. Later she moved to gymnastics and trained with the gymnastics club Gerpla for a few years. As a teenager, she returned to ballet at Klassíski listdansskólinn and graduated from there in 2011 with a modern degree. Sara Katrín teaches 3 to 7 year old children ballet and contemporary dance at Klassíski listdansskólinn and has been doing so since 2014. She also taught contemporary dance in kindergartens in 2018 through Dansgarðurinn. In 2015, she worked for Hreyfing for 2 years as a group class teacher, teaching group classes from Zumba to strength and endurance classes. At the same time, she also acquired Zumba and Zumba-kids rights. In 2017, she completed a B.Sc degree in sports science from Reykjavík University and now works as a sports and health scientist in Heilsuborg. In addition, Sara Katrín practices Crossfit and long-distance running and aims to run Laugavegur 2019 (super marathon - 55 km) for the second year in a row as well as aiming for a final exam in piano at the first opportunity.

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Sóley Frostadóttir

Teacher

Sóley Frostadóttir works as a choreographer and editor. She graduated with a BA in Contemporary Dance Practices from Iceland University of the Arts in 2017, an MFA in Performing Arts in 2022, and holds an MA in Editing and Publishing from the University of Iceland in 2021. In her MA studies in publishing, she specialised in art magazines, artist books, and other publications. Sóley works across disciplines and has presented her work in Mengi and Kúlan at Reykjavík Dance Festival, Reykjavík Children Culture Festival, Plöntutíð, Midpunkt, Gerðarsafn, Reykjavík Art Museum, and Ásmundarsalur.

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Sóley Ólafsdóttir

Teacher

Sóley Ólafsdóttir teaches contemporary dance at Óskanda. Sóley Ólafsdóttir also works as a dancer, choreographer, figure skating coach and mountain guide. Sóley's background comes mainly from training in figure skating. Sóley practiced figure skating with great enthusiasm until the age of 16, when she began studying at Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík and also studying at Bára's jazz ballet school, JSB. After gradutation and diploma, Sóley began university studies at the Iceland Academy of the Arts's contemporary dance program and graduated from there in the spring of 2022. As part of her studies at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, she took an exchange semester at the dance program at KHiO, the University of the Arts in Oslo. After graduation, Sóley has gained experience abroad, i.a. as an intern with the dance company of the Gothenburg Opera and Carte Blanche, Norway's international contemporary dance company. Sóley works in the independent dance scene, where she collaborates with several groups and participates in creating and performing in exciting and fun dance and dance theater works.

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Tersa María Era

Teacher

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Þorbjörg Jónasdóttir

Teacher

Þorbjörg started practising ballet at Sigríður Ármann's ballet school. She then went to Listdansskóli Íslands, where she stayed for seven years and graduated from the elementary school department in 2018. She was then offered a three-year program at the San Francisco Ballet School. She has attended various summer courses throughout her life, such as in Paris, London, England and the United States. 

Teachers who have taught at KLS

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Mynd: Lilja Birgisdóttir

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Alexey S. Mandrikov

Teacher

2001 finished Bolshoi ballet academy as a ballet dancer. Danced in theatre of classical ballet Kasatkina and Vasilev. Atlantic ballet theatre of Canada. Rahvusooper Estonia. And was a guest soloist of many company in the world. 

2009 finished Bolshoi ballet academy as a ballet teacher/choreograph. Was teacher in the many school in Russia, Japan, Portugal. Gave a masterclasses in the others country around the world. 

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Mynd: Lilja Birgisdóttir

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Anna Kolfinna Kuran

Teacher

Anna Kolfinna Kuran is a self-employed dancer and choreographer. She graduated with a BA degree from the contemporary dance program of the Iceland University of the Arts in 2013. After graduating, she has worked on various projects in collaboration with others or on her own projects both as an author and performer. Her works take on different forms where the flow between media, disciplines and methods is clear, the main emphasis, however, lies in the visual and physical. The recurring themes in her work are to explore issues related to the woman's body and contemporary feminism. Anna Kolfinna is one of the founders of the performing arts groups Dætur og Kraftverk who have worked on various exhibitions in recent years. For the past three years, Anna Kolfinna has focused on a personal project entitled The Women's Landscape, where she researches the relationship between gender and space. In addition to this project, Anna Kolfinna has also collaborated with other artists, including performing as a performer in the work Atómsstjarna which was shown in Ásmundarsalur at the Art Festival 2018 and made the piece Allar mínar syster for the youth dance group Forward Youth Company which was shown at the festival Únglingurinn at Hafnarhúsið 2018. In the spring of 2017, she completed a theoretical master's program at NYU in performance studies.

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Mynd: Lilja Birgisdóttir

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Díana Rut Kristinsdóttir

Teacher

Diana Ruth is an independent dancer and choreographer. She graduated from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2015 with a degree in performing arts with an emphasis on contemporary dance. Since graduating, she has worked on a wide variety of projects, from being a choreographer of music videos to appearing in interdisciplinary performing arts and dance shows. Among the music videos that Diana has been a choreographer are Samaris ("Wanted 2 say") and Seven Lions Creation featuring Vök. At the same time, she has taught contemporary dance at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, Klassíski listdanssólinn and Listdansskóli Íslands. Díana also worked for a while as a head coach in the martial arts club Mjölni, where she taught movement flow. Last year, Díana Rut bought a large farm in South Zealand in Denmark with her husband Erlendur, a clinical psychologist, where they plan to combine their fields of expertise to create a creative research platform for the arts, psychiatry and exercise.

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Mynd: Lilja Birgisdóttir

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Gígja Jónsdóttir

Teacher

Gígja Jónsdóttir is a choreographer, dance teacher and visual artist. She graduated from the contemporary dance program of the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2013, studied at the Reykjavík Academy of Fine Arts 2015-2016 and completed a master's degree in art from the San Francisco Art Institute in the spring of 2018, where she focused on performance and video art. Gígja has participated in numerous exhibitions in Iceland and exhibited her work at Reykjavík Dance Festival, LungA art festival, Act Alone, in Mengi, Tjarnarbíó, Harbinger gallery, Reykjavík Art Museum, Midpunkt etc. Her collaboration show with Guðrún Selma Sigurjónsdóttir, A Guide to the Perfect Human was nominated for the Grímu Award as Sprout of the Year in 2017. Her participation show WikiHow to Start a Punk Band which premiered in Mengi in 2017 has developed as a punk course that Gígja has held for teenagers, young people women, senior citizens and, in the near future, children. Gígja has taught modern dance, classical ballet, improv, creative processes and performances for different age groups, from 6 years up to adults. Gígja has taught at Dansgarðurinn, Óskandi and Dans fyrir alla, Leynileikhúsið, and at the Iceland Academy of the Arts.

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Mynd: Lilja Birgisdóttir

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Hildur Björk Möller

Teacher

Hildur Björk started working at the Classical Dance School in 2009 and has mainly taught point shoes as well as teaching classical ballet. Hildur has taught most age groups throughout the years. She has been teaching students who are taking their first steps on point shoes and those who are more advanced. Hildur Björk is a former student of the Klassíski listdansskólinn and graduated in 2009. In 2010 she participated in a ballet show in London with the National Youth Ballet. Hildur Björk has taught ballet in parallel with her university studies and work over the years. She has completed a B.Sc. in Business Administration from Reykjavík University and an MA in Study and Career Counseling from the University of Iceland. Hildur Björk enjoys teaching and enjoys seeing the progress of her students.

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Mynd: Lilja Birgisdóttir

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Inga Maren Rúnarsdóttir

Teacher

Inga Maren Rúnarsdóttir is a dancer and choreographer. She has worked for the Icelandic Dance Company since 2011 and with other choreographers in Iceland and abroad. She received a BA degree from the London Contemporary Dance School, has a teaching license from David Zambrano as well as a trained yoga teacher. Inga Maren recently showed the solo work ÆVI and the children's work Dagdraumar.

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Mynd: Lilja Birgisdóttir

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Íris Ásmundardóttir

Teacher

After graduating from the classical dance course at Listdansskóli Íslands, along with an open course at the Menntaskólain at Hamrahlíð, Íris headed out to London to study at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. There she had the opportunity to perform at the Royal Opera House and work with choreographers such as Julie Cunningham, Kim Brandstrup, Cameron McMillan and Vidya Patel. Íris graduated from Rambert with a 'First Class BA Hons Degree' in the summer of 2021. She recently completed a master's course in 'performance and professional practices' where she danced with the Emergence Postgraduate Dance Company in Manchester under the artistic direction of Joss Arnott. There she toured the UK, showing new works by Kevin Finnan, Gosia Mielech and Vidya Patel, as well as a restaging of Joss Arnott's dance piece Wild Shadows. Íris has also been admitted to and attended summer classes at Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Alonzo King LINES Ballet and Mark Bruce Company. 

In the summer of 2021, Íris gained a teacher's license in 'barre' strength training from The Barre Collective in London.

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Mynd: Lilja Birgisdóttir

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Ólöf G. Söebech

Teacher

Ólöf G. Söebech studied at the classical Art Dance School and later at Codarts Rotterdam (then Rotterdamse Dansacademie) as a dance teacher. She also completed a master's degree in environmental sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She has a wide range of experience in terms of education, knowledge and skills, ranging from performing arts, teaching and project management to research within the university community in the field of European environmental policy. Among other things, she worked as a project and rehearsal director for the Icelandic Dance Company 2004-2006. Today she works at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Ólöf taught ballet and modern dance at KLS from 1995 to 2005 and has been involved with the school since it was newly established. 

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Mynd: Lilja Birgisdóttir

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Sæunn Ýr Marinósdóttir

Teacher

Sæunn studied at Listdansskóli Íslands, graduated from the Royal Swedish Ballet School and then graduated from Hungarian Dance Academy with a BA degree in classical ballet in 2010. Sæunn danced for Hungarian National Ballet, Dortmund Theater and Peter Schaufuss Balleten. There she danced in a number of works, including La Bayadère (Petipa), Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Michael I'm bad, Romeo and Juliet, The King, The Man Who Wanted a Sea View (Schaufuss), In the Middle Somewhat Elevated (William Forsythe), Jewels (George Balanchine) and Hamlet (Xin Peng Wang). From 2011 to 2016, Sæunn taught at Listdansskóli Íslands and Klassíski listdansskólinn. There she taught students from 6th grade and graduate school, but also took care of rehearsals for the spring show (Klassíski listdansskólinn), preparation for solo competitions, as well as private lessons. Since 2018, Sæunn has worked as a barre and ballet teacher in Luxembourg. During that time, she completed a Barre degree from Barreworks London (2019) and a 200-hour yoga teacher course (2020).

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Mynd: Lilja Birgisdóttir

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Yelena Arakelow

Teacher

Yelena Arakelow, born 1993 in Zürich (CH) is an emerging dance artist based in Reykjavík (IS) since 2015. She holds a BA in Dance Practices from the Iceland University of Arts.

 

Her interdisciplinary work about corporeal existence and anticipation in dance has been exhibited at Art Gallery Reykjanesbæjar (2021), performed at  UNM Iceland (2022), Plöntutið (2021) showoff Tanzhaus Zürich (2020), Nuuk Nordic (2021) and International Dance Festival Latvia (2020). She works as a dancer for Steinunn Ketilsdóttir and is a professor in Improvisation at the Iceland University of Arts. 

 

y.arakelow@gmail.com

https://yelenaarakelow.com/

https://www.instagram.com/sthwhateverornot/

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