Laura Kvelstein is a dance and performance artist/choreographer/director based in Tallinn, Estonia.
Trained in classical ballet, she then transitioned to the contemporary dance world in the beginning of the 00s through Estonia’s contemporary dance pioneer Fine5 dance school and later company. She worked as a dancer in the company until 2018, as well as with other choreographers/directors in Estonia and abroad.
She has performed among others at The European Dance Festival in Limassol, Cyprus (2005), the Warsaw International Street Culture Festival in Warsaw, Poland (2005), at the Zawirowania Dance Theatres’ Festival in Warsaw, Poland (2010), at SAAL Biennaal (former August Dance Festival) in Tallinn, Estonia (2010, 2011), at the PLartFORMA International Contemporary Arts Festival in Klaipeda, Lithuania (2011, 2017), at the International Festival of Modern Choreography (IFMC) in Vitebsk, Belarus (2006, 2007, 2009, 2012), at the New Baltic Dance Festival in Vilnius, Lithuania (2013), at the „Na Grani“ festival in Jekaterinburg, Russia (2013), at Liepaja Art Forum in Liepaja, Latvia (2017), at the Pedos/The Feet contemporary dance festival in Anykšciais, Lithuania (2018), at VIDES DEJA Festival in Luznava, Latvia (2018), at “IndepenDance” in Göteborg, Sweden (2018), at HIGH FEST in Jerevan, Armenia (2018), at the Week of Estonian Culture in Gdansk (2018).
She founded her own company millimeter performance group together with three Estonian artists in 2010; the group was active until 2016, having produced 5 pieces within that time.
She was one of the artists in residency at TantsuRUUM in Tallinn, Estonia (2021-2022).
In 2018 she received (together with Ruta Ronja Pakalne) the Estonian Theatre Awards dance award for their piece „CONNEXT“, in which the two also appeared as dancers. Previously, she has received the Young Dancer scholarship at the I.D.A. Festival in Tartu, Estonia (2016) and the 2nd prize (together with Dmitri Kruus) for their dance „One Spot, Two Shadows“ at IFMC (also 2016).
