Reykjavík Grapevine - 28.08.2009, Blaðsíða 10

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 13 — 2009
10
Iceland is well known for boasting an
impressive art community of every sort
and for every walk of life, and dance is no
exception. Although the size of the dance
community is directly proportional to
the size of the country, the quality and
breadth of options is nothing to shake
a stick at. After taking a nice summer
vacation, the city’s movers and shakers
are coming back this autumn with new
shows, new artists and the gumption to
power through the tough times.
THE BIG KAHUNAS
Last April, the Iceland Dance
Company’s 2008–2009 season closed
with a momentous performance in the
Blue Lagoon choreographed by Erna
Ómarsdóttir. The audience were literally
immersed in the show’s physical setting,
raising the bar on drawing the spectator
into the performance. This has set a tall
order for the company in the upcoming
season, but they are not shying away from
the task, going onward and upward. “The
season ahead is quite ambitious,” says
Jóhanna Pálsdóttir, marketing director
at ID, “what we’re trying to do is offer
something for everyone, for young and
old, for people who have just started to
attend dance and people who are really
into it.”
They kick off in September with
their annual Family Performance,
which puts together a collage of their
best shows and favourite pieces. The
family oriented, kid friendly show will
be on Sunday afternoons in September
and October and free for children under
12, making it a great weekend activity.
They will also travel up to Akureyri in
October for two performances, bringing
three of their most popular pieces to the
Northern capital. In November, they’ll
delve deeper into the avant-garde with
Jam Week, a four night run of two-for-one
performances. These performances will
be more experimental and unpredictable,
where the choreographers will have to
work with whatever happens. It may
appeal to a more experienced dance fan
or to the daring uninitiated who is up for
a more challenging and exciting show.
Throughout the month of December,
ticket holders at the Reykjavík City Theatre
will be treated to a twenty minute dance
appetizer prior to the play they have come
to see for only 490 ISK extra. This will
give the theatre lover a chance to become
a dance lover as well. The Company will
then take a brief lull as they prepare for
their big February show choreographed
by Alan Lucien Oyen, one of Norway’s
bright young talents. Oyen is reputed
for a very lyrical style, incorporating
elements of speech into his beautiful,
flowing pieces. Finally, something to
look forward to in the long-term will be
the closing performance in May 2010,
Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Fordlandia with the
Reykjavík Symphony. This performance
will be put on during the Reykjavík Arts
Festival and will be a spellbinding way to
close the year and start next summer.
GOTTA DANCE NOW?
The first week of September will be a
big one for the little guys. The Reykjavík
Dance Festival is coming back for its
7th year from September 3rd to the
7th at the Hafnarfjörður Theatre.
With independent choreographers
and performers out the wazoo, and
presenting no less than six new Icelandic
dance pieces, they will also continue their
goal of bringing contemporary dance into
the public eye with two Dance Parades in
downtown Reykjavík.
In addition, it will be attended by
several directors of international dance
companies and festivals. The festival
is one of the few opportunities that
independent choreographers and dancers
in Iceland have to show their work, so it
is a great chance for them to be seen by
the big wigs, as well as a great chance to
expose new people to modern dance who
might not get to otherwise.
Halla Ólafsdóttir, a founding member
of Samsuðan & Co., has been involved
with the festival for the past two years
and will be performing in ‘Grease, The
Deleted Scenes’ this year. She describes
the festival as a true celebration of dance
and a way for the dance community to
collaborate and pool their resources.
“What I think is very exciting about the
Icelandic dance scene right now is that
people are extremely willing and excited
about doing things,” says Halla, “the
community really wants to share and
make things happen.”
It is still a matter of economics
though—they only received funding
from the municipal government, but
not the state—so they are operating on
a much smaller budget than previous
years. All the performers are volunteering
their works, and all the shows will be free
with a request for donations to help fund
next year’s festival. For those without
wheels to get to Hafnarfjörður, there will
be a free bus departing from downtown
at Karamba (Laugavegi 22) forty-five
minutes before each performance and
coming back after.
Students of the University of Reykjavík
have been doing good by their peers.
This spring five of them—Haukur
Guðjónsson, Peter Rydahl Mols, Þórunn
Jónsdottir, Jóhanna Dýrunn Jónsdóttir,
and Þórdís Katla Bjartmarz—identified a
need among young people for something
to do during the summer, so they
dedicated their time to creating a course
so that they, in turn, can create jobs
for themselves and others. Organised
in cooperation with Innovit and KLAK,
the entrepreneurial course brought
young people together twice weekly to
brainstorm and bounce ideas off each
other, listen to input and advice from
business owners, entrepreneurs and
teachers, and go through the process of
starting their own companies. More than
200 people attended the first lecture
at Hugmyndahús on May 18th and
attendance stayed strong throughout
the summer.
“It’s the situation in Iceland now, I’m in
school and most of the people organising
this class are as well. We noticed that
there aren’t a lot of opportunities now,
it’s difficult to get a job now over the
summertime,” explained course creator
Haukur Guðjónsson. “We saw that a lot
of students have nothing to do over the
summer and thought about what we
could possibly do to help the situation.
We had a little bit of background in
starting companies ourselves, so we
thought it would be a good idea to help
people start their own companies so
they could be using their time wisely.”
A business student, Haukur, 27,
started his first company in 2005: a
small service business that leased
coffee machines and water coolers to
other companies. He has since been
involved with several entrepreneurial
endeavours in Iceland and abroad. After
some rough calculations, Haukur and
his peers were optimistic in May that
the course they organised would result
in the establishment of approximately 50
new companies and, a few years down
the road, the creation of nearly 200
new jobs in Iceland. Once all was said
and done the reality is that more than
twenty companies are in the process of
being established, some of them having
already started up.
“We’re hoping that if those
companies continue to grow, the number
of jobs may increase to 400 or so in the
next two years,” Haukur projected. “The
average aluminium factory has about
that many people and the government is
always implying that big companies are
the solution, but we at the seminar agree
that the solution lies in the small ones.”
The course is considered to have
been a great success. It wrapped up at
the end of July with a small ceremony to
present certificates to those participants
who had submitted completed business
plans.
For future instalments of the course
the young organisers are hoping to get
sponsors onboard to invest 500,000
ISK toward the start-up costs of the
most promising companies. “That is the
minimum amount of capital you need to
start a company, so we want to take away
that obstacle. Plus sponsoring these
new companies would be a good way
for larger companies to advertise, since
they would be associating themselves
with helping the community.”
Haukur admits that planning and
running such an endeavour takes up a
significant amount of time for the young
organisers, all of whom are doing so
entirely without pay. With the response
to the premiere seminar so positive,
there is already a waiting list for yet to
be planned future instalments. It is likely
that the course will be repeated in the
autumn or next winter.
For more information about the
entrepreneurial seminar or to get on
the waiting list for upcoming seminars,
check out their blog, ww.stofnun.
bloggar.is.
Opinion | Rebecca Louder
Rebecca Louder is our latest and greatest
intern. She hails from Montréal, Canada, and
word has it that she has a tattoo of Iceland.
Which is kinda scary.
Dear guy in the black SUV,
Maybe you missed the memo, but
it is fairly common knowledge that the
order of movement at an intersection is
pedestrian-car-pedestrian-car. It might
have gone to you junk folder. It happens.
Still, I don’t really understand why you
felt the need to go pedal-to-the-metal
on my ass when I had patiently waited
for the car in front of you to go by and
started scuttling across Pósthússtræti.
First of all, you were tailgating the
person in front of you, which is a pretty
dickish move to begin with. I mean—
unless you enjoy breathing in extra
carbon monoxide and exhaust fumes
from other cars—what’s the point? You
might as well just grab a paper bag,
huff some gas and chill out (note: I do
not in any way condone huffing gas.
It’s beyond gross). Second, I know I am
incredibly short and there is a chance
you can’t see the top of my head up
there in your two-storey high driver’s
seat, but that ain’t my fault either. If you
did your driver’s education right, you
should be watching out for tiny moving
things like myself no matter what the
size of your car. Truck drivers seem to
avoid killing me, so why can’t you?
But I know you saw me! I fucking
made eye contact with you as I started
crossing and right before you tried to
plow me down! YOU EFFING SAW
ME. Thanks tons for stopping before
breaking my hip. Even at the quick
pace I walk, I wouldn’t have been able
to dodge your massive bumper. So
yeah, I stopped and gave you the ‘I’m
walking here!’ look and refrained from
smacking the hood of your car and
actually shouting it.
So what is your problem anyway?
Nearly all motorists in this city have
good enough reflexes to stop when
they see a moving human in front of
them, and most are kind enough to
wave us through ahead of them. I build
my karma by giving them all a gracious
nod in return. So who are you trying
to be? The exception that proves the
rule? Some kind of colossal jackass?
Were you just busy and stressed and
preoccupied by your very important
life?
Chill out man. I would appreciate not
getting killed.
Yours,
Rebecca
An Open Letter
to the Guy Who
Tried to Run
Me Over
Culture | Dancing, yeah, dancing
REBECCA LOUDER
CATHARINE FULTON
JULIA STAPLES
Dance Party!
What’s on tap for fall? (Surprisingly, no tap)
Doing it For Themselves
Students help students help Iceland, as it were
Welcome to Iceland
Here’s how to find
www.ja.is
WHAT?
WHO? WHERE?
People Businesses Maps Direction
Quick guide to the information
you need while enjoying your stay
For all your dance festival needs: full schedule at www.dancefestival.is..