Erna Ómarsdóttir

Erna Ómarsdóttir graduated from PARTS (performing arts research and training studios, Brussels) in 1998. She went on to work with various Belgian and international dance and theater companies, including Troubleyn, Ballet C De la B and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, performing around the world. She also became a founding member of the dance and theatre collectives Ekki (Reykjavík, 1996) and Poni (Brüssel, 2001).

Together with composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, Erna created “IBM 1401- A User’s Manual” in 2002 (revived in 2017, in memoriam of JJ) and “The Mysteries of Love” in 2005 – both works toured extensively through Europe until 2009.

In 2008, Erna and Valdimar Jóhannsson (who form a theatrical band called LAZYBLOOD), founded Shalala, a performance group that has produced numerous dance- and performance pieces, presented at performing arts festivals and theatres worldwide.

Erna has created and directed a number of works for Iceland Dance Company, including “We are all Marlene Dietrich FOR” (2005) in collaboration with Emil Hrvation (Janez Janza) and “Transaquania – Out of the Blue” (2009) and “Transaquania – Into Thin Air” (2010), in collaboration with Damien Jalet and Gabríela Friðriksdóttir. In 2009 Erna created and directed “Black Marrow” for the Australian company Chunky Moves, in collaboration with Damien Jalet and with original music by Ben Frost (The work was presented at the Melbourne International Arts Festival and then re-staged in 2015, as part of the Iceland Dance Company-repertory.)

In 2015, Erna took up her position as artistic director of the Iceland Dance Company.

For her choreography in “Njála”, a collaboration between Iceland Dance Company and Reykjavík City Theatre (2015) she received the Icelandic Performing Arts Award in the category Dance- and Stage Movement 2016. And in 2017, Erna created SACRIFICE (A Festival For Common Things Made Holy), in collaboration with Valdimar Jóhannsson. The event also included collaborative work by Gabríela Friðriksdóttir,, Ragnar Kjartansson, Margrét Bjarnadóttir, Bryce Dessner, Matthew Barney, Friðgeir Einarsson, Sofia Jernberg, Sigtryggur Berg, Dóra Jóhannsdóttir and dancers of Iceland Dance Company.

Recent works for the Iceland Dance Company is the “Darkness Series” (“At Dusk We Embrace”, “Örævi”, “Variations of Darkness” and “The Best of Darkness”), all in collaboration with Valdimar Jóhannsson and with original music by Sigur Rós.

In 2018, she created, in collaboration with Icelandic choreographer Halla Ólafsdóttir, a brand-new version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” at the Theater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich. The production was nominated for the German Faust Awards in 2019, as Choreography of the Year.

In 2019 Erna Ómarsdóttir created “AION”, with renowned contemporary composer Anna Thorvaldsdóttir. Performed by members of the Iceland Dance Company together with a full-blown symphony orchestra, “AION” has been staged and performed by different entities, such as the Iceland Symphonic Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphonic orchestra and the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2020, Erna got together with Damien Jalet for yet another collaboration; „DuEls“, a journey through the Vigeland Museum in Oslo, led by members of Nagelhus Schia Productions and the Iceland Dance Company, to music by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, among others. Through a series of short and visceral pieces performed as a tour performance through the museum's various rooms, the choreography aimed at releasing the concentrated energy in Gustav Vigeland's monumental sculptures.

„DuEls“ won Erna and Damien the precious Norwegian SUBJEKT Awards in 2020 for best production in theatre and dance and a special film version of the piece was made by Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund (U2, Madonna, Eminem), due to be released in 2023.

In 2021, Erna directed a hybrid piece of theatre, dance and music at Theater Freiburg, based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice and created in collaboration with Gabríela Friðriksdottir and Bjarni Jónsson. She then went on to create and perform in “The Juliet Duet”, together with Halla Ólafsdóttir, a piece commissioned by Schauspiel Leipzig (Residency) and the choreographers’ highly feminist response to their own staging of “Romeo and Juliet” in Munich.

In 2023, Erna created „Notes And Steps From the Underworld“ – together with Swedish-Ethiopean vocal artist Sofia Jernberg. The project was presented at the Bode Museum in Berlin as part of the museum‘s „Female Gaze“ series.

For more than 20 years, Erna Ómarsdóttir has been touring festivals and theatres all over the world with her work, enjoying raving reviews in international media. She has worked closely with visual artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir and composer, musician Björk (videos “Black Lake”, “Where is the Line”, “Ancestress”), Jóhann Jóhannsson, Ben Frost, SigurRós, Ólöf Arnalds, Skúli Sverrisson, Ólafur Arnalds, also film directors Jonas Åkerlund (videos by SigurRós and Duran Duran), Terrence Mallick and Andy Huang. She became associate director of Les Grandes Traversees in Bordeaux France in 2007 and was co-artistic director of Reykjavík Dance Festival 2014. She is a resident artist of APAP – advancing performing arts project, a European network connecting international and local aspects of contemporary arts. Erna is also a recipient of the Iceland Performing Arts Awards (9 times) and has been nominated on several occasions for her work in the Ballet Tanz - annual reviews.