Olga Maloney – Artistic Director and Producer

Olga Maloney – Artistic Director and Producer

Olga Maloney is Artistic Director of Billingham International Folklore Festival of World Dance and Producer of theatrical shows with a focus on the fusion of different cultures, arts and sports.

Prior to that, she was tour manager of ice theatre All Stars for ten years, alongside world-famous Olympic coach and ice choreographer Tatiana Tarasova. She toured for three years with Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and the UK, and with David Essex in  All Stars, she toured Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. 

In 2011, with the support of Arts Council England, Olga introduced the new era to Billingham Festival, presenting contemporary dance, based on multi-cultural roots, alongside the traditional dance, into its programme. That led to achieving a broad cross-generational audience engagement, innovative collaboration and fusion projects and provided multiple platforms for professional development and showcasing new work by local and regional talent and emerging dance companies. 

In 2016, taking inspiration from her background in ice skating and following the sell-out performance of “Synchronised” by Balbir Singh Dance Company at BIFF, Olga came merged ice skating and dance. Since then she produced three Flagship performances premiered at BIFF:

2017 – Peacock Lake – Performance on Ice with fusion of creative skating, contemporary and traditional Dance and live music.

2018 – Ikebana The Journey in Quest of Harmony – cross venue theatre/ice -art/sports production 

2019 – The Creative Spirit of John Curry on Ice with Balbir Singh Dance Company and top world skaters, including a performance at IceSheffield.

2021 – Echoes of a Taiko Drum – short music and dance film

2021-2023 – The Two Fridas – dance theatre production tour of the North East

In 2019, Olga Maloney produced a fusion of Irish and Indian dance and music in, Irish & Indian Dreams with BSDC and Absolutely Legless. As Producer, she was able to get this work programmed in the United Arab Emirates in April 2019, where it performed with huge success and featured on Al Jazeera TV. The show later performed at Billingham Festival 2019.

Olga’s creative practice as Producer is coming up with themes and ideas for new projects, collaborations and productions on/off the ice, creatively finding innovative expressions of the UK folk dance scene, using ground-breaking approaches to presenting traditional dance in new contexts, contributing to Creative Case for Diversity. Also, finding performance opportunities, commissioning artists and managing them to work at their best. 

Olga Maloney is also the Secretary-General of CIOFF® (International Council of Folklore Festival Organisers). Olga works with other similar festivals around the world, sharing her approach to pushing the boundaries of traditional dance and its presentation at folklore festivals. In CIOFF® Billingham Festival is globally viewed as a role model, standing out as an exemplary festival with how it engages with other art forms and sport disciplines, unlike any other festival.