Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.06.2009, Page 19

Music, Art, Films and Events Listings + Eating, Drinking and Shopping + Map
+ The Reykjavík Arts Festival - Dance, Theatre and Music Take Over in the Latter Half of May
Your essential guide to life, travel and
entertainment in iceland.
Issue 7 2009 www.grapevine.is
MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS – EDDAS AND SAGAS
The Ancient Vellums on Display
ICELAND :: FILM – Berlin – Copenhagen – Reykjavík
Icelandic Filmmaking 1904-2008
A LOOK INTO NATURE
The Story of the Icelandic Museum of Natural History
EXHIBITIONS - GUIDED TOURS
CAFETERIA - CULTURE SHOP
The Culture House – Þjóðmenningarhúsið
National Centre for Cultural Heritage
Hverfi sgata 15 · 101 Reykjavík (City Centre)
Tel: 545 1400 · www.thjodmenning.is
Open daily between 11 am and 5 pm
Free guided tour of THE MEDIEVAL MANU-
SCRIPTS exhibition Mon and Fri at 3:30 pm.
“We like to sing and dance
Go into a trance
We like gore
We always want more...”
Those lucky enough to witness fabled contemporary
dancer Erna Ómarsdóttir’s Transaquania performance
at the Blue Lagoon last April (any show that features
her for that matter) will attest that she is truly a force to
be reckoned with, a true artist in her field. The primeval,
yet refined, way in which she manages to convey epic
tales, fraught emotions – haphazard lust and eternal
love alike – should put most performers to shame.
Luckily for her native Iceland, the Brussels-based artist
keeps bringing her performances back home again,
performing around the country with team after team
of world-class artists, dancers, choreographers and
musicians.
And now she’s back with a brand new show, and we’re
real excited. Quoth her press-release:
“Five Nordic women.
A terrifying secret.
Five seemingly ageless creatures.
Possessed by a spirit that turns this at times so well
mannered quintet
into a Dionysian force."
Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness was created and
conceived of by Erna along with Sissel Merete Bjorkli,
Riina Huhtanen, Sigríður Soffía Níelsdóttir and Margrét
Sara Guðjónsdóttir (with music by Valdimar Jóhannsson
and Lieven Dousselaere). It has already been
performed in select European locations to rave reviews.
Its sole Icelandic performance will be at the National
Theatre’s big stage on June 19 – a very fitting date for
the feminocentric piece, since it is Icelandic Female
Rights day (on that date in 1915, Danish King Christian
X signed an Alþingi law that gave all Icelandic women
over the age of 40 suffrage). It’s performed in English,
so English-speakers need not fret.
Go there.
Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness
19
June