WHAT WE DO

Reykjavík Dance Festival is an international centre for choreographic practices in Iceland - seeking to curate an all year round conversation with its audiences – through the artists we present, support and produce.

Founded in 2002, RDF's central activity has always been its international festival which now takes place in November. Since 2014 however, RDF has extended its activities – to include national and international initiatives throughout the year in the form of mini-festival formats, workshops, and residencies. 

Brogan and Pétur met in Iceland in 2010, in Brogan’s first week in Iceland when Pétur attended one of her dance classes in Egilsstaðir, in the East of Iceland. They started creating performance projects together the same year before making Dance for me in 2013 - a duet piece between Brogan and Pétur’s father Ármann Einarsson - which propelled them into the international performance scene. Since then, they have presented work in over sixty venues in eleven countries.

Over the years they have worked with the formats of dance, biographical performance and stand-up and their art practice has taken them from the black box into the living rooms of strangers all over the globe. 

Today Brogan and Pétur run Reykjavík Dance Festival from their kitchen table alongside their five year old daughter Írena Ljósbjörg and baby Marey Lóa.

Katie Hitchcock is a dancer and performance artist based in Reykjavík. She began her studies in modern dance technique at Orange Coast College, California, and later studied dance, theatre, and performance art at the University of California, Berkeley. Her passion for movement led her to work as a freelance artist in Berlin and later in Iceland, where she has since been an active part of the contemporary dance community. Beyond the stage, Katie has a diverse background: she holds a B.S. in Neurobiology, has worked in biopharmaceuticals, serves as a program lead for Iceland Innovation Week, and even spent summers as a warden in the Icelandic highlands.

Andrea Elín Vilhjálmsdóttir has been active in Reykjavík’s performance and theatre scene for the past decade, working as a dramaturg and director on a wide range of productions. She is a core member of the performance collective Trigger Warning and producer of Plöntutíð, an eco-dramaturgical performance festival. Andrea has also managed projects for numerous festivals and theatre productions, and recently joined the Reykjavík Arts Festival as Event Manager. She holds a BA in Folklore from the University of Iceland and a BA in Theatre and Performance Making from the Iceland University of the Arts.

Marta Ákadóttir is a dancer and performance maker who first appeared at Reykjavík Dance Festival at the age of 13. Since then, she has participated in the festival in many roles—curator, dancer, and creator. Marta has worked on a wide range of projects in dance, music, and performing arts, both in Iceland and abroad. These days, her focus is on strengthening the grassroots of dance and performance in Reykjavík, with Reykjavík Dance Festival as one of its key creative hubs.

Juliette Louste (FR) has been educated as dancer and choreographer. She graduated from the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona (Superior Dance Conservatory), with a master degree in Choreography, with honours. Working on and around stage since 2004, she has been working as a dancer, choreographer and improviser as much as technical director, technician and light designer. She also has been teaching for more than 15 years. Established in Iceland since 2015 she works with independent projects but also for the main theatres in Reykjavík, as well as outside the country. She also built her own company. She has been working in numerous art festivals, and is currently the technical director of the Reykjavík Dance Festival, Reykjavík Fringe Festival and UNGI.

As an assistant, in the technical or department field, she has been working with artists such as Carolyn Carlson, Akram Khan, Israel Galván and Dada Masilo. She has been a part of PerkImBa since its foundation, working closely with Neus Fernández and Thierry Hochstätter. Her fondest hobby is to improvise on stage with jazz musicians, which she has been doing among many others with Hermeto Pascoal, Jorge Rossy, Peter Bernstein, Brad Mehldau, Marco Mezquida, Ramon Prats, Albert Cirera. In 2023, she was nominated for the Icelandic Theatre Awards as light designer and choreographer, both for the piece Ég lifi enn, sönn saga. She's both the first woman in Iceland to be nominated for light design, and to be nominated for those 2 categories at the same time.

The people who have worked with RDF over the years:

Valdimar Jóhannsson, Juliette Louste, Aldís Amah Hamilton, Alexander Erlendsson, Birna Rún Eiríksdóttir, Hjalti Rúnar Jónsson, Íris Tanja Ívars Flygenring, Maria Thelma Smáradóttir, María Dögg Nelson, Sigurbjartur Sturla Atlason, Snæfríður Ingvarsdóttir, Andrea Elín Vilhjálmsdóttir, Gréta Kristín Ómarsdóttir, Ingvi Hrafn Laxdal Victorsson, Jóhann Kristófer Stefánsson, Nína Sigríður Hjálmarsdóttir, Sigurjón Bjarni Sigurjónsson, Brynja Jónsdóttir, Heba Eir Jónasdóttir Kjeld, Mariann Hansen, Aya María Urhammer, Viktoria Chen, Ines Kakkonen, Julia Schmidt, Wilhelmina Ojananen, Inga Huld Hákonardóttir, Austeja Villkaityte, Andrea Elín Vilhjálmsdóttir, Aya Maria Urhammer, Birna Rún Eiríksdóttir, Brynja Jónsdóttir, Dominique Gyða Sigrúnardóttir, Gréta Kristín Ómarsdóttir, Heba Eir Jónasdóttir Kjeld, Hjalti Rúnar Jónsson, Ingvi Hrafn Laxdal, Íris Tanja Ívars Flygenring, Klāvs Liepiņš, María Thelma Smáradóttir, Mariann Hansen, María Dögg Nelson, Nína Sigríður Hjálmarsdóttir, Selma Reynisdóttir, Sigurbjartur Sturla Atlason, Snæfríður Ingvarsdóttir Viktoria Chen, Viktoria Ivicsics, Wilhelmina Ojananen, Þorvaldur Sigurbjörn Helgason, Kjartan Darri Kristjánsson, Arnþór Þorsteinsson, Tinna Lind Gunnarsdóttir, Diljá Ámundadóttir, Jón Þorgeir Kristjánsson, Berglind Pétursdóttir, Saga Sigurðardóttir, Kara Hergils, Eva Rún Snorradóttir. Sigríður Ásgeirsdóttir, Aude Busson, Steinunn Ketilsdóttir, Hrafnhildur Einarsdóttir, Sóley Frostadóttir, Þórdís Nadia Semichat, Yelena Arakelow.