BIOGRAPHY / Dan ie l A lexander Be l ton / b . 1970 NZ

Daniel is a Contemporary Dance Scholarship graduate from the New Zealand School of Dance (double Diploma honours 1990). He studied under renowned tutors such as Louis Solino (Limon), Juliet Fisher (Graham), Marianne Schultz, (Hawkins), Jennifer Shennan (Dance History and Baroque). In his third year he was awarded the NZSD Choreographic Prize. At this time he collaborated with David Downes in video and music projects, with Footnote Dance Company, Dancescape, Bipeds, and worked with choreographer Donnine Harrison and composer John Psathas.

During his final student year Daniel was invited to join the Douglas Wright Dance Company. He was a first cast member for the pieces Gloria and As it is - contributing choreographically to these works. As an independent artist he was commissioned by Merchants of Venus Festival 1990, Auckland, to present new choreography with music by David Long. Also this year he performed with Brian Carbee and Company. With Douglas Wright Dance Company he performed Gloria, Hey Paris and A Far Cry in New Zealand and internationally for London’s Dance Umbrella Festival, and The Holland Dance Festival, Den Haag.

From 1991-97 Daniel was based in Spain and the UK. In 1992 he produced Hemisferio de Primavera with Donnine Harrison in collaboration with cellist Paul Mitchell for the IDD Festival, and as a performance installation for Escuela Balear de Diseno, Palma de Mallorca. During this time Harrison and Belton began their contemporary dance pedagogy and established movement theatre workshops for dance, theatre, and music institutions in Palma.

Daniel then successfully auditioned for renowned Danish Choreographer Kim Brandstrup and his Arc Dance Company of London. He became a key member between 1992-97, receiving critical acclaim for his performances in major roles within dance adaptions of Shakespeare’s literature. Additional projects with Kim Brandstrup included the film Angel’s and Insects. Arc’s productions Antic, Othello, Orfeo, Saints and Shadows, and Crime Fictions, engaged extensive touring in the UK and Denmark, including performances at Sadler’s Wells and Tivoli Gardens. Daniel danced the lead role in Othello opposite Royal Ballet Principal Irek Mukhamedov contributing choreographically (this production won the London Evening Standard Award for Most Outstanding Production in 1994), and later opposite London Contemporary Dance Theatre soloist Kenneth Tharp. Daniel guested with Aletta Collins Dance Company for This is the Picture. He danced with The Royal Opera House Covent Garden in Eugene Onegin (chor. Kim Brandstrup) and Turandot (chor. Kate Flat). At this time Daniel also danced with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in Eugene Onegin and Queen of Spades (chor. Ron Howell). He then joined and toured extensively with the Valencia based Compania Vicente Saez for their production Uadi. This virtuosic dance was performed throughout Europe including dance festivals in Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Canary Islands. Following this Daniel joined the Lindsay Kemp Company in Barcelona touring the Operetta Cinecienta throughout Spain and the UK during 1993-94. This work combined dance, mime, puppetry and voice. On his return to London he contributed to choreographic research for Jeremy James and Company, and auditioned successfully for Siobhan Davies Dance Company.

In 1995 he received Arts Council of England and Southern Arts funding to make and perform Tongue. The trans-media work with composer Ian Dearden and dancer Tom Ward, premiered at Hampshire Dance Festival. Daniel taught courses for BA Modular Dance Studies at King Alfred’s College of Higher Education, Winchester, and became a father to daughter Pepa with partner Donnine Harrison.

From 1997-1998 based in Dunedin, New Zealand; Daniel choreographed the production of Te Tupuni O Wehinuiomaomao for the Kai Tahu Whanau Canada tour. He received Creative New Zealand funding to create Insideout with Peter Belton and the Dunedin College of Education; and later the inter-media work Homing Hokinga Mai with print maker Kathryn Madill, digital artist Rachael Rakena, and dancer/choreographer Donnine Harrison for Vernacular at The Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Daniel and Company received Creative NZ funding to produce the dance film Shoal Dance with NZ and British artists (feat. Rachel Krische) which premiered at DPAG and the Wordstruck Festival. He was then commissioned to produce the installation work, Leaf byThe Dunedin Public Art Gallery Society for the Commemorative Collection (combining choreography/performance with Donnine Harrison). Leaf and Shoal Dance screened in the Dunedin-Edinburgh contemporary arts exhibition Southern Lights curated by Otago Settlers Museum. Later that year Daniel and company were awarded support from Community Trust of Otago to produce the new media project Moment with Donnine Harrison for The third NZ Jewellery Biennial Turangawaewae curated and toured by Dowse Art Museum. Leaf toured to the Forester Gallery and Oamaru Heritage celebrations 1998. For Act Now Daniel was the choreographer and assistant director of the Pacific Dream production.

During 1999 he choreographed for Talking House (Avis), and choreographed/danced with Donnine Harrison in Lisa Warrington’s production of OneFlesh. With Donnine he formed the charitable trust Daniel Belton and Good Company which became know as Good Company Arts. Later that year Daniel received funding from Creative NZ, Community Trust of Otago, and The British Council to direct and produce Concertina, a multi-media performing arts project with premiere at the DPAG. Belton and Harrison performed with renowned British dancer Sean Feldman for this season. As with Leaf and Shoal Dance, Concertina commissioned new music from Anthony Ritchie, textile design from Tanya Carlson, videography and new choreography.

In 2000 Daniel was invited to perform with Tanz Company Gervasi in Austria, for their season of itza, opening the Imagemarz Festival of Dance at die Theater Kunstlerhaus, Wein. The making of this work involved his considerable choreographic and performative input, and received critical acclaim from public and media alike. Returning to NZ and his new born son Josef, he then took up a teaching residency with Donnine Harrison at the New Zealand School of Dance, restaging their work Wireless for the Adrenalin Tour. Following this, Daniel conceived, directed and performed in his first full length dance theatre production Sound i ng s - dance theatre making current with premiere at the inaugural Otago Festival of the Arts, and the Wellington Opera House 2000. This project received major funding from Creative NZ and Community Trust of Otago. The multi-faceted work featured European and NZ guest artists, projections, kinetic sets, innovative sound and light design, and met public and critical acclaim.

He completed another teaching residency in 2001 for Te Whaea: the National Dance and Drama Centre of New Zealand. Daniel delivered a videodance course for the Otago University Dancelab programme. His dance/art film Henge premiered within the New Zealand International Film Festival, and was Highly Commended at the Otago Film Festival. Later that year he directed an arts council funded research project, Lumin for his own company. Further funding then enabled the new film to premiere within The Body Festival and The Otago Festival of the Arts in 2002, and then Videodance 2003, in Athens, Greece. A film production of the dance Wireless won support from the Screen Innovation Production Fund and Creative NZ. Alongside Donnine Harrison he was acknowledged with the Tup Lang Choreographic Scholarship at this time. The new film Wireless premiered at the NZIFF in 2002. Later this year he was commissioned by Black Grace Dance Company (Auckland) to create and design a new work. Whai. was a avant-garde work combining kinetic scenography, an electronic score and lasers with the dance. He then took up a third residency at NZSD to teach and create the work Foil commissioned for Graduation Season.

In 2003 he completed a new residency for Unitec, School of Performing and Screen Arts, Auckland, which included the commissioning of Time Flexor for their Pulse.Art tour (Lumin, Whai, Foil, and Time Flexor feature music from renowned Dutch composer Jan-Bas Bollen). Later that year Daniel took up an invitation to participate as guest choreographer to the Arc Dance Company Prolegomena Choreographic Project in London. Having been awarded NZ Arts Council Research Funding Daniel undertook international research with Donnine Harrison towards the development and presentation of new dance film work. This study involved participation in European festivals and mentoring from renowned choreographer/film maker, Kim Brandstrup.

Daniel was then awarded the inaugural Creative New Zealand Choreographic Research Residency, culminating with the presentation of Figure[s] of Speech feat. digital artist WJS Grenfell in 2004. This project went on to win Best Video Creation at the Canariasmediafest International Festival of Video and Multimedia, Spain. Early in 2004 Daniel completed the revolutionary film Game with support from SIPF. Daniel was commissioned to make a new choreography for The Royal New Zealand Ballet. The Happy Prince was celebrated at its premiere in the 2004 Otago Festival of the Arts. For Good Company Arts in 2005 he directed, designed, danced and edited in the multimedia installation Soma Songs with guests from Holland, Britain and New Zealand. The project premiered to critical acclaim in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. The company was then awarded CNZ funding to create a sequel film to Game titled Reset. Daniel took up his fifth teaching residency at The New Zealand School of Dance and was commissioned to choreograph Punch for their 2005

Graduation. In 2006 Good Company Arts produced a new film version of Soma Songs funded by SIPF. As guest tutor at The New Zealand School of Dance he developed the ‘Dance for the Camera’ and ‘Path to Partnering’ courses. He remounted Punch with NZSD students for the Tahiti Dance Festival 2006. Daniel delivered movement workshops and lectures on Dance and Design for University of Otago Theatre Studies and Performing Arts curriculum. He was Choreographer and Assistant Director for Otago University’s season of Carmen feat. Deborah Wai Kapohe. His Good Company Arts film programme tilted Athletes of the Imagination toured to New Zealand festivals and premiered the the new screen dance Seismos). Daniel’s film After Dürer (feat. composer Martin Lodge) premiered alongside his new choreographic commission from The Body Festival in October 2007. Stitchbirds incorporated kinetic scenography and was performed by senior NZSD students following his teaching residency. In 2008 Good Company Arts completed production of the new feature length dance film, Matchbox (supported by SIPF and CNZ).

He was awarded the 2008 Visiting Artist Residency with English and Media Studies at Massey University, Turitea Campus. With this opportunity Daniel developed research for new stage and screen practices, and delivered movement workshops to Massey students. He then presented Choreographing the Screen at The New Zealand Film Archive, Wellington. In an public theatre forum he presented his current research with Good Company Arts. This work was supported by Creative NZ and involved film, textile, projection, sound, light and choreographic processes with dance artists from New Zealand and Australia. As guest tutor at the NZSD 2009, he again delivered to all three student years with Technique and Composition classes. He was invited to present at the Dance on Camera Festival, New York, and at IDN VideoDansa, Barcelona. In New York, Daniel taught dance for the camera at Dance New Amsterdam (DNA) as part of the Dance Films Association programme.

Daniel was awarded the prestigious Creative New Zealand Choreographic Fellowship for 2009-10. A new body of work (Line Dances) fusing dance and camera arts with science resulted for web and cinema from October 2010. The film series premiered at Metropolis in The Otago Festival of the Arts 2010, and has gone on to travel to many festivals internationally. Daniel was an invited guest presenter at Cinemoves, ReelDance 2009, Sydney. Daniel and Company won major support from The Screen Innovation Production Fund to create the short film Ato-Mick. Also at this time he was choreographer and movement director for the opera production L’ Orfeo as part of The Otago Festival of the Arts 2010. After guest teaching at NZSD in early 2011, Daniel participated in the NZ Exhibition at the Prague Quadrennial PQ11 Prague, Czech Republic. He performed the Soma Songs Live AV Set and was part of the panel of international artists led by curator Steven Brown for the forum “Sound Art, or Conceptual Sound Design?” .

During 2011 Good Company Arts was awarded major funding from The Independent Film Makers Fund to produce the unorthodox flick-film Ato-Miss. This cinematic work combined animation and physical theatre in a motion graphics collage, opening at LINOLEUM, Moscow’s International Festival of Contemporary Animation & Media-art, and the New Zealand International Film Festival 2012. Daniel collaborated The Conch for MASI at the NZ International Festival of the Arts, 2012. Following this Daniel was invited to perform, teach and present at Festival Internacional de la Imagen, Manizales, Colombia. The Arts Council of New Zealand supported his travel to this major festival hosted by Universidad de Caldas. Daniel presented seminars and workshops to design students, and he performed Soma Songs as a Live Digital AV Set at Teatro de Los Fundadores. He was invited to perform Soma Songs at the famous Brooklyn Club, Barbes, in association with the Dance Films Association, New York, USA. Good Company Arts was awarded Arts Council of New Zealand funding to produce Time Dance - an algebra of movement. Featuring a new Michael Norris score conducted by Hamish McKeich and played by Stroma, this multi-disciplinary work premiered to acclaim at Body and Tempo Festivals 2012, NZ. In 2013 a site specific version of Time Dance was commissioned as a stand alone installation for CINEDANS, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This project has evolved to be presented as video-mapped facade projection in Europe and India.

International invitations for Daniel to teach and present his work since 2012 have seen him undertake pedagogical and performance residencies for Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada; Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, UK; the Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany; Codarts, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Genius Loci Weimar Media Facade International Symposium and Fasadenprojektionsfestival, Weimar Germany; World Stage Design Festival, Cardiff, UK; Sapienza University and Romaeuropa Festival, Rome, Italy; n.o.w DanceSaar Internationales Tanzfestival with xm:lab, and HBKSaar Media Facade, Saarbrücken, Germany; for Ikky Maas and MPA School London, UK, and Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland. He was awarded CNZ and Goethe Institut support in association with Zentrum Paul Klee to start work on a new hybrid media project titled Blueprints. His recent ballet Satellites commissioned by the Royal New Zealand Ballet for their 2014 national tour, received public and critical acclaim. The work featured kinetic sculpture and stage design, projection mapping, light refracting costumes, and a programmed electronic score with the dance. 2014-15 saw Daniel touring his multi-media work OneOne for Good Company Arts to festivals in New Zealand, Argentina, India, Holland, Rarotonga, Czech Republic, Singapore, and with Soma Songs a major recommission for the Aarhus Festival, Denmark. In October 2015 Daniel became an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate. http://www.thearts.co.nz/artists. During late 2015 he presented at Tokyo Denki University, Japan and Girona University, Spain. He was an invited guest at the international conference “Immaginare La Danza” in Rome, Italy. During 2016-17 Daniel is developing a project with Japanese artists towards a new collaboration supported by the Asia Artform Exchange Fund of Creative New Zealand. Also featured in the 2016 itinerary was a standout live season of “Equilibrist” for Centrum Paul Klee, Bern. Daniel and Good Company Arts supported by the Asia Co-Commissioning Fund are in production towards a multidisciplinary work AXIS - anatomy of space, in association with The Royal New Zealand Ballet, Otago Museum and The Arts House Singapore.

COLLEAGUE COMMENTS / “He is held in high esteem by many in the dance world as a thoughtful, committed and exciting dancer” Siobhan Davies, Artistic Director Siobhan Davies Dance Company, London, UK.

“I immediately sensed Daniel’s creative approach to his dancing, as well as being delighted with his natural facility and his dynamic and instinctive sense of movement. He has the ability to question, explore, suggest, and a desire to understand the core of the movement physically as well as mentally. When I first saw Daniel on stage, what impressed me the most was his ability to combine spontaneous animal physicality with mature dramatic concentration” Kim Brandstrup, Artistic Director Arc Dance Company, London, UK.

“I had the opportunity to invite Daniel Belton to Vienna for the production „ITZA“, which was performed at the Image Festival of Dance in Vienna. I recognised Daniel as a outstanding dancer, he disposed of a high quality technique. I remember him as a dancer who is interested in the development of dance phrases and space structure. I remember his precision of movement but also freedom and surprise within the choreographic frame. He was always looking for new challenges. His communicative and integrative abilities were impressive. He brought by his personal openness and his power of apprehension a positive energy for the whole group. Daniel Belton has a clear and reflective personality, the ability to criticise in a constructive manner, himself and others. The work-process with Daniel was a pleasure, he worked everytime with hundred percent. I recommend Daniel Belton as a person and dancer, I enjoyed to get to know him” Elio Gervasi, Artistic Director, Tanz Company Gervasi, Wien, Austria.“Moves screendance festival have been very impressed by both the technical and artistic quality of Daniel Belton’s work: not only is it impressive from a moving image perspective but it is also playful and clever and makes the work very accessible to all types of audiences” Pascale Moyse, Moves Festival Director, UK.

“I have known Daniel and his work since 1992, when he arrived in UK. He was a member of Arc Dance Company from 1992 till 97 when he decided to to devote his time to his own choreographic work and returned to NZ and form his own company. I worked with him first as a dancer and was struck with his already then physical intelligence. Well trained, from a good and traditional  technical background he had a unique soft and instinctive way of moving, that is rare in such a young dancer. I sensed a real curiosity and an investigatory mind at work. He had as a performer extraordinary versatility, able to do a wide range of work from narrative work to postmodern abstraction with equal power and focus. He has over the years combined this innate physicality with a choreographic exploration in which he has used his strong visual sense as well as his eye for physical detail to create remarkable work for himself and his company. I recently have worked with him in a choreographic workshop at the Royal Opera House, where his constant wanting to find other ways made him create very interesting and beautiful work” Kim Brandstrup, Artistic Director Arc Dance Company, London,UK.

“It is the freshness of his ideas, not only in choreography and dance, but also in film and photography, painting, poetry, instrumental music and song - that make me think of him as a Renaissance man” Jennifer Shennan, Dance Historian, NZ

“Daniel Belton has become an artist of international significance, not just for his work as a dancer, but for his work in taking choreography to the screen. He has been recognised for the idiosyncratic vision that gives his work distinction. I am particularly drawn to his use of oscillating lines, that backgrounds the human figure in stylised dance. In his films organic movement becomes mathematical and is enhanced by fragmented sound and muted light. The work is challenging and ground-breaking and places Daniel in the forefront of his field. Despite his international success, Daniel is extremely modest. His works spring from an innate desire to make art. He does not appear to be driven by success, but rather from the need to articulate his vision. He is not afraid to place disparate ideas into relationships but there is always a deep intelligence behind his impulses” Dr Angie Farrow, Senior Lecturer in Expressive Arts, Massey University, New Zealand.

“I have known Daniel Belton for over fifteen years and have watched his dance career develop and mature with interest over all of this time. I first met Daniel when he was a student at the New Zealand School of Dance. As his contemporary dance teacher and choreographic mentor, I was impressed with Daniel’s commitment and innovation with which he brought to his studies. As a member of Douglas Wright’s dance company here in New Zealand in the early 1990s, his dancing was dynamic and demonstrated a depth of emotion coupled with exciting technique. His career as a professional choreographer and filmmaker has expanded and he has presented challenging, thought-provoking work for over a decade. In a small country like New Zealand sustaining a career in the arts is precarious to say the least. Daniel has consistently produced high-quality work that, at times, has been at odds with the ‘accepted’ fashion of dance in New Zealand. His total commitment to the art form is unquestionable. Daniel’s work fits well into an international context; there is nothing specifically ‘New Zealand’ or provincial reflected in his work. Therefore, I can whole-heartedly recommend Daniel to you as an international choreographer. He is truly a New Zealand choreographer of the 21st century. Daniel has proved over the last decade that he can deliver what he promises; his works have consistently explored the meetings of new technology, choreographic language and design” Marianne Schultz (MA Performing Arts, Middlesex University, London).

“Daniel’s aesthetic is unique. I find his work beautiful, sophisticated and mesmerising” Mary Jane O’Reilly, Director Tempo Festival, NZ

“Daniel Belton and Good Company form an extremely interesting and challenging voice from New Zealand. Their production of dance films is the outcome of a coherent and devoted to the experiment itinerary, and it is being highly appreciated here in Greece” Christiana Galanopoulou, VideoDance Artistic Director, International Thessaloniki Film Festival, Athens, Greece.

“Daniel has fast established himself as one of New Zealand’s most successful artists of the current generation and I know that through his work, he is committed to developing powerful synergy between various art forms and disciplines, through imaginative collaborations that result in film, installation and live performance work. Daniel has consistently demonstrated through the track record of his collaborations with a whole range of artists, and the range of artistic territory explored, that he is an artist unafraid to take risks and confront challenges. At the same time his accomplishment is evidenced both by the critical success of his work and by the international audience that the films have attracted. I believe that the ability of an artist to succeed relies on more than sheer technical skill. Indeed, few dance artists have reached Daniel’s stage of development without demonstrating remarkable powers of persistence, ambition and curiosity. As a more personal observation, what has always struck me about Daniel is the balance of tenacity and humility that he embodies, a combination of qualities which I believe are so necessary, yet not so easily found, and which are often the hallmark of a mature artist” Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp OBE, Chief Executive, The Place, London, UK.

ht tps : / / v imeo.com/dbe lhttp://nz.linkedin.com/pub/daniel-belton/11/10/237 h t tp : / /www. thear t s . co.nz / a r t i s t s

Dan i e l ha s been a PAP member fo r t he New Zea l and S c hoo l o f Dance , and an i ndependen t a r t s c on su l t an t t o t he New Zea l and A r t s Counc i l fo r annua l l y f unded , a r t s g ran t s and s t ra t eg i c p l ann i ng pane l s re l a t i n g t o dance , med i a a r t , and mov i ng image s e c t o r s . He i s a member o f t he Dance F i lms A s so c i a t i on (New Yo rk ) , Dance -Tec h G l oba l Commun i t y , and t he I n t e rna t i ona l Dance Counc i l , Une s co .

OVERVIEW 1980-87 Classical Ballet Student RAD/Student of Puppetry, Plastic Arts, Visual Art, Photography at Nelson College, NZ.1987 Nelson College Awarded University Entrance for Art and English. Awarded William Edmund Atkinson Scholarship. Awarded Mataki Cup for outdoor leadership. Studied Life Drawing, Painting and Sculpture at Nelson College, NZ.1988-90 full time student at the New Zealand School of Dance Diploma (1) Contemporary Dance Major/Choreography Award, New Zealand School of Dance. 3rd Year Awarded Fay Richwhite Scholarship/Diploma (2) Choreography/Contemporary Dance Performance Major, New Zealand School of Dance. Original cast member and choreographic contribution to Gloria with Douglas Wright Dance Company. Guest choreographer for Footnote Dance company. Performed with Donnine Harrison and Taane Mete in her project collaboration with composer John Psathas - Timeline.1990 Gloria, Hey Paris, Quartet, A Far Cry, As it is tours with Douglas Wright Dance Company (NZ)1991 International touring with Douglas Wright Dance Company. 1992 Choreographer of Hemisferio de Primavera with Donnine Harrison for Palma de Mallorca, Dance Day Celebrations, Spain. Freelance tutor in Palma. Joined Arc Dance Company, London.1993 Antic (Jeremy James as Hamlet) touring with Arc Dance Company, London, UK. This is the Picture touring with Aletta Collins Dance Company, London. Dancer and featured soloist for Glyndebourne, and Royal Opera House Covent Garden productions. Angels and Insects film with Kim Brandstrup. Dancer with Compania Vicente Saez of Valencia, (Spain) in their season Uadi, touring throughout Europe and to the Canary Islands.1994 Othello UK and European touring with Arc Dance Company (feat. major role opposite Irek Mukhamedov and Kenneth Tharp). Winner London Evening Standard Award for Most Outstanding Production. Laurence Olivier Award nominee. Dancer for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and Royal Opera House Covent Garden productions. Workshops and choreographic processes with Siobhan Davies Dance Company. Joined the Lindsay Kemp Company (Barcelona, Spain) for their Cenicienta production touring Europe.1995 Saints and Shadows (Laurence Olivier Award), Othello, Orfeo with Arc Dance Company international touring. Daniel was awarded Arts Council of England funding to choreograph and present Tongue at The Hampshire Dance Festival, Winchester Theatre Royal. Daniel participated in workshops and choreographic processes with Jeremy James and Company (London) and Elio Gervasi and Company (Linz).1996 Danced in Saints and Shadows, Orfeo and Crime Fictions with Kim Brandstrup’s Arc Dance Company touring UK and Europe. Dancer for Royal Opera House Covent Garden productions.1997 Awarded the Dorothy Daniels Dance Foundation Memorial Award, New Zealand.Awarded Dunedin City Council funding to create and direct the multimedia installation/performance project Insideout with Peter Belton, Paul Sharapoff, and Anthony Ritchie. Official Selection: Dunedin Public Art Gallery Vernacular exhibition. Daniel and company awarded Creative New Zealand funding to produce, direct and perform the multimedia installation/performance project Homing Hokinga Mai (feat. Donnine Harrison, Kathryn Madill, Rachael Rakena, Martin Lodge). Official Selection: Dunedin Public Art Gallery Vernacular exhibition.1998 Awarded New Zealand School of Dance Honours Board selection. Awarded NZ arts council funding to produce, dance in and direct the film Shoal Dance feat. Rachel Krische, and Donnine Harrison with music by Anthony Ritchie (feat. Paula Smart violin), costumes by Carlson, and film production by Alf and Barrington West. Official Selection: Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Wordstruck Festival, Southern Lights exhibition New Zealand and Scotland. Daniel was commissioned by DPAGCC to create and present his multimedia installation/performance project Leaf feat. Donnine Harrison, Tanya Carlson, Anthony Ritchie, Terrence Dennis, Michael O’Brien, Kathryn Madill, Peter Belton, and John Irwin. Official Selection: Dunedin Public Art Gallery Commemorative Collection Commission, Forrester Gallery NZ, Southern Lights exhibition in New Zealand and Scotland. Supported by The Community Trust of Otago to develop the installation/film project Moment with Ann Culy and Donnine Harrison. Official Selection: Turangawaewae 3rd NZ Jewellery Biennial national New Zealand tour by the Dowse Art Museum.1999 Daniel Belton and Good Company awarded CNZ funding to develop and present the new multimedia installation/performance project Concertina with Sean Feldman and Donnine Harrison, also Tanya Carlson, Violet Faigan, Terence Dennis, Paula Smart. Official Selection: Dunedin Public Art Gallery season and installation; and the University of Otago Hocken Library installation. Commissioned to create with Donnine Harrison a new dance prologue and coda for Wow Productions Fortune Theatre season One Flesh by Fiona Samuel.2000 Joined Tanz Company Gervasi (Elio Gervasi and Company) of Vienna, Austria for their season itza. Developed the dance Wireless with Donnine Harrison for the NZSD Adrenalin tour of NZ. Created and directed first full length dance theatre production Soundings national tour (Good Company Arts with major funding from CNZ, and Otago Community Trust). Best of Arts 2000 Official Selection NZ Listener. Official Selection: Otago Festival of the Arts 2000.2001 Film Henge Otago Film Festival Highly Commended Award. Official Selection: New Zealand International Film Festival 2001, and Belladonna Film Festival 2001. 2002 Film Henge made with support from CNZ. Official Selection: TTV Riccione Performing Arts on Screen International Festival, Italy; VideoDance 2002, Athens, Greece; Canariasmediafest: 10th Canarias International Video and Multimedia Festival, Spain. Film Court[caught] with OU Dance Studies. Official Selection: VideoDance 2002, Athens, Greece. Film Wireless made with CNZ and SIPF funding. Official Selection: New Zealand International Film Festival; The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre, The Otago Festival of the Arts. Tup Laing Scholarship for Choreography with Donnine Harrison (Creative NZ). Commissioned to choreograph Polynesian string figures dance: Whai for Black Grace Dance Company. Commissioned to choreograph Foil for NZSD Graduation Season.

2003 Film Wireless Official Selection: European Premiere:Napolidanza, International Film Festival, Naples, Italy. Film Lumin made with major funding from CNZ, CTO, DCC. Official Selection: New Zealand International Film Festival, The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre, The Otago Festival of the Arts, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Belladonna Film Festival. European Premiere: Videodance 2003, Athens, Greece; Napolidanza, International Film Festival, Naples, Italy. Film Henge official selection to Dunedin Public Art Gallery screenings. Participated in Arc Dance Company Prolegomena Choreographic Project, ROH, London with support from Creative NZ. Awarded the inaugural Choreographic Research Residency Pilot for Figure[s] of Speech (CNZ funded and hosted by The University of Otago).2004 Film Figure[s] of Speech - Winner Best Video Creacion Canariasmediafest 2004, Spain.Official selection NZ International Film Festival 2004, The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre. Videodance 2004, Athens, Greece, Canariasmediafest: 11th Canarias International Video and Multimedia Festival, Spain 2004, Dunedin Public Art Gallery 2005 Awarded funding from Creative New Zealand, Community Trust of Otago, Dunedin City Council, Royal Netherland Embassy NZ, to direct, create and perform the multimedia project Soma Songs for DPAG in 2005.2005 Film Game (SIPF and CNZ funded) Finalist Vodafone Digital Art Awards 2005, NZ. Film Game selected as Finalist Roma Independent Film Festival 2005, Italy. Film Game selected for Kawasaki Short Digital Film Festival 2005, Japan. Film Game selected for the Body Global Festival 2005, NZ. Film Figure[s] of Speech selected for Cinedans International Festival 2005, Amsterdam. Film Figure[s] of Speech selected for Napolidanza, International Festival, Naples, Italy.Film Game selected for Napolidanza, International Festival of Dance on film, Naples, Italy; Dance Screen 2005, Brighton, UK; VAD Film Festival, Girona, Spain 2005; VideoDiaLoghi Film Festival, Turin, Italy 2005; selected for VideoDance International Multimedia Festival 2005, Athens, Greece. World premiere of multimedia performance project Soma Songs. Official Selection: Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Awarded funding from SIPF to create cinematic versions of Soma Songs in 2006. Listener Magazine official selection Best of 2005 for NZSD choreography Punch.2006 Film Game selection Commonwealth Film Festival, Manchester and UK touring with BBC, 2006.Film Game for V-Dance International Video Dance Festival Tel-Aviv, Israel, 2006. Film Reset (SIPF funded). Official selection Napolidanza, il Coreografo Elettronico International Dance Film Festival, Naples, Italy 2006.Film Reset official selection NZ International Film Festival, NZ 2006; Kawasaki Short Digital Film Festival 2006, Japan; Ultima Film - Dance for Camera, Oslo, Norway 2006. Film Reset official selection VAD International Video and digital arts Festival, Girona, Spain, 2006. Film Soma Songs official selection Canariasmediafest: 12th Canarias International Video & Multimedia Festival, Spain.2007 Film Soma Songs Finalist in the VideoDansa, Barcelona Prize 2007, IDN Festival, Spain. Film Seismos (CNZ funded). Finalist at VideoDansa, Barcelona Prize 2007, IDN Festival, Spain. Film Reset official selection VideoDance 2007 Festival, Athens, Greece. Films Seismos and Soma Songs selected for Dunedin Public Art Gallery screenings, NZ.Film Reset official selection moves07: movement on screen festival, Manchester, UK and European touring programme moves07. Film Game selected to be part of International Art fair Art Athina 2007 Athens, Greece.Film Game Winner at Filmaka International Film Competition 2007, Los Angeles, USA. Film Clip Igene Star Seed commission to Sci-Fi Feature Film in association with Filmaka LLC International Film Competition 2007, Los Angeles, USA. Film Soma Songs selection VAD International Competition Video and Digital Arts Festival, Girona, Spain 2007.Film After Dürer feat. composer Martin Lodge (GCA, Waikato University, Body Festival). World Premiere, Radiant Theatre, The Body Festival, NZ 2007. Choreography Stitchbirds with NZSD senior students. World Premiere, Radiant Theatre, A Body Festival Commission for Daniel Belton and Dancers, Christchurch, NZ 2007. NZ Listener Best of Dance 2007. Film Soma Songs selected for UK Channel 4 TV, ABC Dance4 Film series in association with MJW Productions Ltd, London, and Circe Films, Australia 2007. Film After Dürer Best of Dance Film 2007 NZ Listener.2008 Awarded Massey University Artists Residency English and Media Studies, Turitea Campus, NZ.Film Soma Songs Finalist 2008 ReelDance Awards for Best Dance Film, Sydney, Australia. Film Reset Finalist 2008. ReelDance Awards for Best Dancefilm, Sydney, Australia. Film Soma Songs exhibited at Sala Parpallo, Valencia, Spain 2008. Film Soma Songs selection TTV Riccione 2008 Performing Arts on Screen International Festival, Italy. Film After Dürer official selection IL COREOGRAFO ELETTRONICO 2008, Naples, Italy. Film After Dürer Winner Most Innovative Work, IL COREOGRAFO ELETTRONICO 2008 (part of Napoli Teatro Festival Italia), Naples, Italy.Choreographing the Screen (2004 -2008 Daniel Belton and Good Company dance films curation) programmed for The New Zealand Film Archive, Wellington, NZ. Film After Dürer official selection MIR Festival, Athens, Greece.Film Matchbox (CNZ/SIPF funding). Official selection Otago Festival of the Arts 2008, Dunedin, New Zealand.Films Matchbox and After Dürer official selection VAD Festival International Festival of Video and Digital Arts 2008, Girona, Spain. Film Matchbox official selection Canariasmediafest 13th Edition 2008, Canarias International Video and Multimedia Festival, Spain.2009 Films After Dürer and Matchbox official selection Dance on Camera Festival 2009, New York, USA. Film Matchbox Finalist in the VideoDansa, Barcelona Prize 2009, IDN Festival, Spain. Guest tutor for ‘Through the Lens” at Dance New Amsterdam, New York, USA. Guest Film Presenter at Dance on Camera Festival hosted by the DFA, New York, USA.Film After Dürer official selection Salento Finibus Terrae Festival 2009, Apulia, Italy. Film After Dürer official selection Dance Camera West Festival 2009, Los Angeles, USA. Film Matchbox official selection Moves Festival 2009, Manchester, UK. Film After Dürer official selection Cinedans Festival 2009, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Daniel Belton awarded Creative New Zealand Choreographic Fellowship 2009-10.2010 Film Matchbox Finalist selection Napolidanza 2010, Naples, Italy. Film After Dürer selected for Cinedans programme Filmhuis Den Haag, The Netherlands. Film Matchbox Finalist selection ReelDance Awards 2010, Sydney, Australia.Film Ato-Mick official selection New Zealand International Film Festival, Dunedin, NZ. Guest speaker for TEDx Dunedin; delivered new video dance modules and contemporary technique at NZSD (Residency), taught and presented at Dance Symposium 2010 University of Otago as part of the Tertiary Dance Festival 2010, Dunedin, New Zealand.

Films Line Dances world premiere at Metropolis Cinema, and Otago Festival of the Arts 2010, New Zealand. Miniature Award in Dance Best of 2010, NZ Listener Arts Awards for Line Dances project. Line Dances awards selection Critics Survey DANZQ Magazine 2010 for Outstanding Choreography. Soma Songs official selection LIVE_REPEAT_PLAYBACK Symposium 2010 AUT University, Auckland, NZ. Film Ato-Mick official selection Linoleum 2010 International Festival of Contemporary Animation & Media Art, Moscow, Russia.2011 Films Line Dances official selection Big Screen Project 2011, New York, USA. Films Line Dances official selection Dance on Camera Festival 2011, New York, USA. Film Ato-Mick Finalist in the Roma Independent Film Festival 2011, Rome, Italy. Films Soma Songs official selection Auckland Arts Festival Performance Design Installation ‘Fly-Tower’ 2011, Auckland, NZ. Good Company Arts awarded Independent Film-Makers Fund grant to produce a sequel film Ato-Miss.Soma Songs official selection NZ Exhibition PRAGUE QUADRENNIAL 2011, Prague, Czech Republic. Live VJ/DJ performances of Soma Songs by Daniel Belton for the NZ Exhibition June 2011, Prague Quadrennial, Czech Republic. Daniel began collaboration with theatre company The Conch towards the choreographic processes of their new work MASI for the NZ International Festival of the Arts 2012.2012 Daniel was invited to perform, teach and present at the prestigious Festival Internacional de la Imagen 2012, Colombia during April 2012. World Premiere of film Ato-Miss at the 7th International Festival of Contemporary Animation & Media-art Linoleum, Moscow, Russia. Official selection New Zealand International Film Festival 2012, Auckland, Dunedin, New Zealand. Film After Dürer official selection Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ), Montreal, Canada 2012-13 (part of major new 10 month exhibition on philosopher Raymond Klibansky).

Good Company Arts was awarded CNZ Inter-arts funding to produce and present Daniel’s major new work Time Dance - an algebra of movement featuring composer Michael Norris and ensemble Stroma National New Zealand Tour to Body and Tempo Festivals 2012. International invitations for Daniel to teach, and present his work during late 2012 have seen him undertake pedagogical and research residencies at Ryerson University, Photography and Image Centre, with Prof Marta Braun, Toronto, Canada; Leeds Metropolitan University, for Rachel Krische, Leeds, UK; Bauhaus University, Media Arts under Prof Ursula Damm, Weimar, Germany; Paul Klee Zentrum, with Dr Fabienne Egglehöfer, Bern, Switzerland; and Codarts, Compostion Arts, with Jan-Bas Bollen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. 2013 Daniel undertook a second teaching residency at the Bauhaus University, Weimar for Media Arts and Design. During this time he also presented Good Company Arts projects for the Genius Loci Video Mapping Festival 2013 in Weimar with support from Creative New Zealand. Further invitations in 2013 showcased Good Company Arts at the World Stage Design Festival, Cardiff; Sapienza University and Romaeuropa Festival, Rome; and at Internationales Tanzfestival n.o.w DanceSaar, Saarbrücken, Germany. 2014 he was invited to choreograph a new work for the Millennium Performing Arts School’s Bloomsbury Theatre season, London. With support from Creative NZ, xm:lab and the Goethe-Institut, Daniel started research towards a new project with Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland. As guest artist he also presented dance and media performances titled TRACES for the public program at Zentrum Paul Klee, and a new video mapped installation for the HBKSaar Media Facade in Saarbrücken. His films were invited to be part of the Zentrum's major 2014 exhibition Space - Nature - Architecture. Daniel’s major commission for the Royal New Zealand Ballet saw him conceive, design and choreograph the new work SATELLITES for their Allegro national tour in 2014. Daniel engaged key collaborators from Good Company Arts to realise this critical acclaimed work which combined film projection, kinetic sculpture, an electronic score, and interactive costume design with dance. With Good Company Arts he then went on to create the multi-media installation work OneOne. This distinctive land and water project premiered at New Zealand festivals, museums and art galleries touring nationally in 2014 including Art Box, Toitu Museum and Nga Taonga Sound and Vision. The project began international touring as both live mixed performance AV events and installations for Escuchar Festival [sonidos visuales] at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires in late 2014. 2015 Time Dance and Line Dances were recommissioned for the opening of the Attakkalari India Biennial, Bangalore. This was a large scale video mapped project for the facade of the famous Chowdiah Memorial Hall. Daniel’s OneOne project toured to the Attakkalari India Biennial 2015, Cinedans Amsterdam 2015; the Dunedin Public Art Gallery for Matariki; the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space as part of the NZPQ15 National Exhibit and including installation for the Auckland Arts Festival 2015; the Oceanic Performance Biennial OPB15, Rarotonga; Sound Islands Symposium SI15, Singapore; the ASFF Bafta Nominated Festival, UK; and for the Aarhus Festival, Denmark including a major video mapped recommission of SOMA SONGS (MORE LIGHT) in collaboration with ProShop Europe and bildware.net. In October 2015 Daniel was awarded an Arts Laureate by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand. In late 2015 Daniel presented at Tokyo Denki University, Japan and Girona University, Spain. He was invited guest speaker and presenter at the international conference “Immaginare La Danza” in Rome, Italy.2016 Daniel and Company in association with the Asia Co-Commissioning Fund are developing a new dance film work for planetariums with live music. AXIS - anatomy of space is to be premiered at planetariums in Singapore and New Zealand. Good Company Arts presented Theatre of Light with OneOne at Light Nelson Festival 2016. By special invitation the company performed “Equilibrist” at Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland on October 8th and 9th 2016. This unique collaboration featured spatial designers from Massey University NZ with London based guest performer Tom Ward alongside Belton.