Olive Bieringa works at the intersection of creative practice and pedagogy in dance, performance, somatics and media.
Born in Aotearoa, she is a first generation New Zealander of European Jewish descent based in Oslo.
She holds a BA in Dance from European Dance Development Center in the Netherlands and an MFA in Performance and New Media at Long Island University in Brooklyn, NY. She is Certified Movement Therapist (ISMETA) and Body-Mind Centering® Teacher and Program Director of Somatic Education Australasia. She is also a Certified Shiatsu practitioner and DanceAbility teacher, working with performers of all abilities.
Her work has been profoundly influenced by teachers and collaborators including Otto Ramstad, Lisa Nelson, Margit Galanter, Deborah Hay, Benoit Lachambre, Steve Paxton, Eva Karczag, and founder of Body-Mind Centering® Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.
She was a recipient of Kulturrådet artist stipend in 2022, Oslo Kommune stipdendium in 2020 and 2024, a Foundation for Contemporary Art Fellowship in 2015 and a McKnight Foundation Fellowship in 2010.
Olive teaches in dance programs and festivals and Body-Mind Centering® trainings internationally such as Cullberg Ballet, Stockholm, TanzFabrik, Berlin, Norwegian Theater Academy, Fredrikstad, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Impulstanz, Vienna, Movement Research, NYC, Independent Dance, London and Somatic Education Australasia.
Since 2018 she on the board of PRAXIS Oslo where she curates and produces local dance programming. Past curatorial projects include art, and science collaborations such as St Paul’s City Art Collaboratory and SEEDS Festival, improvisational performance events and festivals, and dance film festivals.
Her writings appear in numerous online publications such as Site Dance: Choreographers and the Lure of Alternate Spaces from University of Florida Press.