Daniel Belton and Good Company : Good Company Arts was founded by acclaimed dancer/choreographers Daniel Belton and Donnine Harrison in 1997. The company produces dance theatre works and makes films featuring human movement with fine arts. Project based and working from Dunedin, New Zealand - the award winning group has an international reputation for their unique multi-disciplinary approach involving commissions of visual art, haute couture, design, new music, animation and film. Recognised performance artists and specialist technologists work together through the leadership of artistic director Daniel Belton.
As film, installation and live performance the work has been celebrated by audiences in the major cities of New Zealand, the UK, and Europe. The company is reviewed in publications such as The Listener, The Sunday Star Times, The Press, The Otago Daily Times, The Dominion, Theatre News, Art New Zealand, DANZ Magazine, and internationally in dance and new media festival catalogues and programmes. Registered as a Charitable Trust in New Zealand since January 1999.
Projects: * national touring work * * international touring work.
[ f ] indicates film driven project. [ ff ] indicates moving image making intrinsic to live project.
Insideout [ ff ] (Dunedin Public Art Gallery Vernacular exhibition 1997)
Funders: Creative New Zealand, The Community Trust of Otago, The Dorothy Daniels Dance Foundation.
Homing Hokinga Mai [ ff ] (Dunedin Public Art Gallery Vernacular exhibition 1997) Funder: Creative New Zealand.
Shoal Dance * * [ f ] (Dunedin Public Art Gallery/Wordstruck Festival/ Southern Lights NZ-UK 1998)
Funder: Creative New Zealand.
Leaf * * [ ff ] (Dunedin Public Art Gallery Commemorative Collection Commission/ Forrester Gallery NZ/ Southern Lights NZ-UK 1998) Funders: DPAGS, The Community Trust of Otago, Creative New Zealand, Southern Clams Ltd.
Moment * [ f ] (Turangawaewae 3rd NZ Jewellery Biennial national tour Dowse Art Museum 1998)
Funder: The Community Trust of Otago.
Concertina [ ff ] (Dunedin Public Art Gallery season/installation 1999, Hocken Library installation)
Funders: Creative New Zealand, The Community Trust of Otago, The British Council, Montana Wines.
Soundings * [ ff ] (Regent Theatre Dunedin/Otago Festival of the Arts Premiere, Opera House, Wellington 2000) Funders: Creative New Zealand, The Community Trust of Otago, The British Council, Montana Wines Ltd, Performing Arts Foundation of New Zealand, Southern Clams Ltd, Perpetual Trust. Soundings Archival Project [ f ] (2008-9) Funders: Creative New Zealand,GCA.
Henge * * [ f ] (World Premiere: NZ International Film Festival, Otago Film Festival 2001; Belladonna Film Festival. European Premiere: TTV Riccione Performing Arts on Screen International Festival, Italy 2002; VideoDance 2002, Athens, Greece; Canariasmediafest: 10th Canarias International Video and Multimedia Festival, Spain 2002; Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, NZ 2003; Festival Castel dei Mondi 2004 Andria, Italy). Funder: Creative New Zealand.
Wireless * * [ f ] (World Premiere: 2002 NZIFF, The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre, Christchurch, NZ 2002; The Otago Festival of the Arts, Dunedin, NZ 2002; Belladonna Film Festival, Cantebury, NZ 2003; Dunedin Public Art Gallery, NZ 2003. European Premiere: Napolidanza, International Dance Film Festival, Naples, Italy 2003) Funders: Screen Innovation Production Fund, Creative New Zealand.
Lumin * * [ f ] (World Premiere: 2002 The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre, Christchurch, NZ; The Otago Festival of the Arts, Dunedin, NZ 2002; Dunedin Public Art Gallery NZ, 2003; NZ International Film Festival, national touring NZ 2003. European Premiere: Videodance 2003, Athens, Greece; Napolidanza, International Dance Film Festival, Naples, Italy 2003; Tempo Festival of Dance, Auckland, NZ 2004) Funders: Creative New Zealand, The Dunedin City Council, The Community Trust of Otago.
Figure(s) of Speech * * [ f ] Creative NZ Choreographic Research Residency awarded to Daniel Belton 2003 (in association with digital artist Jac Grenfell and University of Otago Dance Studies) Awarded Best Video Creacion at the Canariasmediafest 2004 International Festival of Multimedia and Video , Spain; official selection NZ International Film Festival 2004, The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre, Christchurch, NZ 2004. Videodance 2004, Athens, Greece; Dunedin Public Art Gallery, NZ, 2004/5; Kawasaki Digital Short Film Festival, Japan, 2005; Cinedans International Festival 2005, Amsterdam, Holland; Napolidanza, International Film Festival 2005, Naples, Italy. Programmed for Choreographing the Screen at The New Zealand Film Archive 2008, Wellington, NZ.
Game * * [ f ] 2004/5 Finalist in the Vodafone Digital Art Awards 2005 , Auckland, NZ; Finalist in the Roma Independent Film Festival 2005 , Rome, Italy; Videodance International Film Festival 2005, Athens, Greece; Kawasaki Digital Short Film Festival 2005, Kawasaki, Japan; The Body Global Festival 2005, Christchurch, NZ; Napolidanza, International Dance Film Festival, Naples, Italy 2005; Dance Screen 2005, Brighton, United Kingdom; VAD Film Festival, Girona, Spain 2005; VideoDiaLoghi Film Festival, Turin, Italy 2005; Commonwealth Film Festival, Manchester, UK 2006; Vdance International Video Dance Festival, Tel-Aviv, Israel 2006; Fuel Festival 2006 Waikato Museum of Art, NZ; official selection Ultima Film -Dance for Camera, Oslo, Norway 2006; The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre 2006, Christchurch Art Gallery, NZ; Otago Festival of the Arts, Dunedin Rialto Cinema 2006, NZ; Tempo Festival of Dance, Tapac, Auckland 2006; selected to be part of International Art fair Art Athina 2007 Athens, Greece; Winner at Filmaka International Film Competition 2007, Los Angeles, USA ). Selected for international distribution by The Roma Independent Film Festival RIFF TV, Rome, Italy 2008. Programmed for Choreographing the Screen at The New Zealand Film Archive 2008, Wellington, NZ. Selected for Dance Symposium 2010, Otago University, NZ. Funders: The Screen Innovation Production Fund, The Dunedin City Council, The Community Trust of Otago.
Soma Songs [ ff ] (Live VJ/DJ Events World Premiere: 2005 The Dunedin Public Art Gallery) Funders: Creative New Zealand, The Community Trust of Otago, The Dunedin City Council, The Royal Netherlands Embassy, Wellington, The Gaudeamus Foundation, Amsterdam.
Soma Songs [f] World Premiere of single screen film version: The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre, Christchurch, NZ 2006; Otago Festival of the Arts, Dunedin, NZ 2006; Tempo Festival of Dance, Auckland, NZ 2006; Fuel Festival, Waikato Museum of Art, Hamilton, NZ 2006. Official selection Canariasmediafest: 12th Canarias International Video and Multimedia Festival, Spain 2006; Finalist in VideoDansa, Barcelona Prize 2007, IDN Festival, Spain ; official selection VAD Video and Digital Arts Festival, International Competition, Girona, Spain 2007; selected for ABC of Dance4Film for Channel 4 UK , produced by MJW Productions of London, and Circe Films, Melbourne, 2008. Finalist in the 2008 ReelDance Awards for Best Short Dance film, Australia. The 23' film was selected to exhibit at famous gallery Sala Parpallo , in Valencia, Spain 2008. Official Selection TTV Performing Arts on Screen 2008 International Festival, Riccione, Italy. Programmed for Choreographing the Screen at The New Zealand Film Archive 2008, Wellington, NZ. Selected for Dance Symposium 2010, Otago University, NZ. Official Selection: LIVE_REPEAT_PLAYBACK Symposium 2010 AUT University, Auckland, NZ. Soma Songs official selection Auckland Arts Festival 2011, Auckland, NZ. Soma Songs official selection NZ Exhibition 12th Prague Quadrennial 2011, Prague, Czech Republic. Funders: Screen Innovation Production Fund, Unit Film, The Community Trust of Otago.
Reset [ f ] World Premiere: Napolidanza, XIV edtion of il Coreografo Elettronico, International Dance Film Festival, Naples, Italy 2006; Fuel Festival 2006 Waikato Museum of Art; NZ Telecom International Film Festival, Homegrown 2006; The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre 2006; Otago Festival of the Arts 2006; Tempo Festival of Dance 2006, Auckland NZ; VideoDance 2007 International Film Festival, Athens, Greece; moves07 Festival, Manchester, UK 2007 and international touring with BBC. Finalist in the 2008 ReelDance Awards for Best Short Dance Film, Australia. Programmed for Choreographing the Screen at The New Zealand Film Archive 2008, Wellington, NZ. Selected for CineMoves 2009 curated by ReelDance, Sydney, Australia. Funders: The Screen Innovation Production Fund, Perpetual Trust, Unit Film.
Seismos [ f ] World Premiere: The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre 2006; Otago Festival of the Arts 2006; Tempo Festival of Dance 2006, NZ; Finalist in the VideoDansa, Barcelona Prize 2007, IDN Festival, Spain. Programmed for Choreographing the Screen at The New Zealand Film Archive 2008, Wellington, NZ. Tertiary Dance Festival 2010, Dunedin, NZ. Funders: The Screen Innovation Production Fund, The Community Trust of Otago, The Dunedin City Council, Perpetual Trust.
After Dürer [ f ] in association with The University of Waikato and Martin Lodge. World Premiere The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre 2007. Selected as Best of Dance Film 2007 NZ Listener. Prize MOST INNOVATIVE WORK, XV FESTIVAL INTERNAZIONALE DI VIDEODANZA, il Coreografo Elettronico, Naples, Italy 2008. Programmed for Choreographing the Screen at The New Zealand Film Archive 2008, Wellington, NZ . Programmed for The Dunedin Public art Gallery 2008. Official selection VAD 2008, Festival of Video and Digital Arts, Girona, Spain. Official selection Dance on Camera Festival International Competition 2009, New York, USA. Selected for Dance Symposium 2010, Otago University, NZ. After Dürer official selections to MIR Festival 2008, Athens Greece; Salento Finibus Terrae Festival 2009, Apulia, Italy; Moves Festival 2009, Manchester, UK; Cinedans Festival 2009, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Dance Camera West 2009, Los Angeles, USA. After Dürer selected for Cinedans programme Filmhuis Den Haag 2010, The Netherlands. Funders: Good Company Arts, The Body Festival, The University of Waikato.
Stitchbirds [ ff ] in collaboration with The New Zealand School of Dance. A special project commissioned and produced by The Body Festival 2007. Direction and choreography Daniel Belton. World Premiere The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre 2007. Selected as Best of Dance and Runner Up for Best Choreography 2007 NZ Listener. Funders: The Body Festival, Creative New Zealand.
Matchbox [ f ] Preview New Zealand Film Archive Cinema, Wellington NZ, September 2008. World Premiere Otago Festival of the Arts, Dunedin NZ, October 2008. European Premiere: VAD 2008, Festival of Video and Digital Arts, Girona, Spain. Official selection Canariasmediafest: 13th Canarias International Video and Multimedia Festival, Spain 2008. Finalist in the VideoDansa, Barcelona Prize 2009, IDN Festival, Barcelona, Spain. Official selection Dance on Camera Festival International Competition 2009, New York, USA. Moves Festival 2009, Manchester, UK; Finalist selection Napolidanza 2010, Naples, Italy; Matchbox Finalist in the ReelDance Awards 2010, Sydney, Australia. Funders: The Screen Innovation Production Fund, The Community Trust of Otago, Creative New Zealand, Perpetual Trust, Good Company Arts.
2nd Movement [ ff ] Creative and Professional and Development Project for the creation of a touring partner to Stitchbirds.
Ato-Mick [ f ] silent digital cinema short featuring real world actor/dancers in virtual environments with puppetry. Official selection: New Zealand International Film Festival 2010. Official Competition selection: Linoleum 2010 International Festival of Contemporary Animation and Media Art, Moscow, Russia. Official selection to the 4th Winter International Festival of the Arts, Sochi, 2011 Russia. Official selection RIFF Awards 2011, Rome Independent Film Festival, Rome Italy. Funders: The Screen Innovation Production Fund, Otago Community Trust, The DCC, Good Company Arts. Music feat. The Thermettes
Line Dances [ f ] Science Emergent Movement Art (SEMA) seven films for web and new media platforms.
This project is created via the umbrella of Good Company Arts, and is supported by Creative New Zealand and the Otago Community Trust. As 2009-10 CNZ Choreographic Fellow, Daniel Belton has developed a new moving image series fusing visual arts with dance and science. World Premiere; (seven cinematic journeys) Metropolis Cinema, Dunedin, New Zealand October 10, 2010. Official selection Dance on Camera Festival New York 2011, USA.
Official selection Big Screen Project 2011, New York, USA. Recipient of Miniature Award in Dance Best of 2010, NZ Listener Arts Awards. Official selection Critics Survey DANZ Quarterly for Outstanding Choreography Award.
Ato-Miss [ f ] A sequel silent film after Ato-Mick, combining virtual and real world elements. Funders: The Independent Film Makers Fund of New Zealand (Arts Council of New Zealand), Good Company Arts. Music feat. The Thermettes. In production November 2010.