Gunilla Olsson Karlsson trained at the Stora Teatern Ballet School and the Ballet Academy in Gothenburg, where she currently teaches in the professional training program. She has worked and studied in New York, London, and Paris and has enjoyed a long career as a dancer.
At the Gothenburg Opera, she has choreographed My Fair Lady, Romeo and Juliet, Guys and Dolls, Jultrad-i-ton (for 20 years), Fame the Musical, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Cats; she also choreographed Cats at Cirkus in Stockholm and Fame the Musical at Oscarsteatern, Slagthuset in Malmö, Göta Lejon, and the Helsinki City Theatre (where she also choreographed & Juliet). Furthermore, she choreographed Grease and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (Maratondansen) at Länsteatern i Skaraborg. At Spira in Jönköping, she choreographed Fiddler on the Roof and Passion (the latter also performed at Norrlandsoperan).
She created the choreography for the European premiere of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder at Wermland Opera—as well as at the Oscarsteatern—and for the world premiere of the musical En alldeles särskild dag at Helsingborg City Theatre, in collaboration with Malmö Opera.
At the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki, she has choreographed Matilda the Musical, When the Robbers Came to Cardamom Town (Folk och rövare i Kamomilla stad), Aladdin, Doctor Zhivago, Kinky Boots, The Little Mermaid and We Will Rock You. She choreographed Stop the World – I Want to Get Off in Vaasa, and at the Vanemuine Theatre in Tartu, Estonia, she choreographed Kinky Boots, Les Misérables and Sister Act.
She has also choreographed major events for Volvo and Saab and worked on dinner shows and TV programs such as Sikta mot stjärnorna (in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark), Småstjärnorna, Scenen är din, Diggiloo and Bingolotto. For ten years, she choreographed for Lotta på Liseberg. Additionally, she worked as an interpreter and assistant for 70 extras during Michael Jackson’s HIStory world tour stop in Gothenburg. In 2003, she was awarded the Guldmasken for Best Choreography for Fame the Musical.
Photo: Harald Nilsson