Daniel Roberts

Daniel Roberts is a choreographer, dancer, pianist, and Professor in Dance at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He graduated magna cum laude from The Ohio State University with a BFA in dance performance and with an MFA in Performing Arts from Bennington College. While an undergraduate at OSU, Roberts’ dual reconstruction of prepared piano and Labanotated score for Cage/Cunningham’s Totem Ancestor (1942) was the first reconstruction of the dance since Cunningham’s own performance of the solo in the 1950s. As a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC), Roberts created several original roles in Cunningham’s choreography and appeared in several of Cunningham’s works for the camera, most notably in Charles Atlas’ film Merce Cunningham: A Lifetime of Dance. After leaving New York, Roberts was invited to be the head technique teacher at the Danish National School of Contemporary Dance in Copenhagen, worked as a rehearsal assistant at the Royal Danish Ballet, and was Rehearsal Director for Danish Dance Theater. Roberts’ choreography, which explores the inherent movement and musical properties of natural phenomena, has been presented in Columbus, Ohio, Danspace/Movement Research (NYC), Velocity Dance Center (Seattle), Harpa Concert Hall (Reykjavik), Balé Teatro Castro Alves (Brazil), World Dance Alliance (Taiwan), and throughout Denmark. His choreography Pondus, set to Sigfusdottir’s Clockworking, was featured on the 2020 Ohio Dance gala concert. He has taught nationally and internationally at several dance companies, festivals, schools, and universities. Roberts is a 2015 Cunningham Fellow 2019 and 2023 Fulbright Specialist in American Studies (Taiwan). Egill Árni Jóhannesson is an independent Icelandic filmmaker and photographer, based in Reykjavik, Iceland. Mostly known for his commercial work with brands like Icelandair, Domino’s Pizza, BioEffect, and NOVA. After studying Film Production and Character Animation, he has been working closely with the main advertising agencies in Iceland. Egill primarily works as a solo filmmaker, maintaining a focus on quality and simplicity in his productions. María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir is a composer and a violinist. She graduated as a violinist from the Reykjavik College of Music in 2000 and with a bachelor’s degree in composition from the Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2007. Maria is a member of the band amiina from 1999. amiina has released and recorded several albums and performed their music around the world as well as collaborated with various artists. With amiina, Maria was a touring member and collaborator of Sigur Rós from 2000-2008.Maria has composed music for orchestras, various sized ensembles, choir, choreography and films. Maria's compositions have been recorded and released internationally. Clockworking, Sleeping Pendulum, Aequora, Spirals, Loom and Kom vinur all have been released on the US label Sono Luminus. Her piece, Loom, was on the top 25 list of best classical music tracks of 2018 in The New York Times. The album Concurrence, which includes Maria's piece Oceans, performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Daníel Bjarnason was on the top 25 list of best classical music albums of 2019 in The New York Times as well as nominated for the Grammy awards 2021 for best performance. Recent work includes music for the performance piece Moving off Land by Joan Jonas, Horfnir skógar string quartet, Pending for solo double bass and Clockworking (orchestral version) commissioned by Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. As well as composing her own music, Maria has recorded and collaborated with a range of artists, musicians and bands. Her compositions have been performed in Iceland, USA, Australia, and Europe.