Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2013, Blaðsíða 34

Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2013, Blaðsíða 34
34The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 9 — 2013 Running Off With The Circus Reykjavík gets a one-time eruption of feats of strength and agility C.A.R.E. To Join The Circus Circus Art Research Exchange kicks-off in Iceland by Rebecca Louder by Adrienne Blaine “This is the biggest tent, Eyjafjallajökull,” says Ilmur Dögg Gísladóttir, PR & Project Manager of the Nordic House, as we enter the centrepiece of the circus village under construction in Vatnsmýri. We climb to the top of the grandstand, I take a deep breath and hold it as I notice the woman in mid-air, quietly practicing a rope aerial routine to the sound of the wind and a ukulele. “Everyone else is at lunch right now. She has taken this moment to practice alone,” Ilmur continues. Circus “This will probably be the only time this festival happens. Max has wanted to do this for a very long time, but it’s very difficult because it is so expensive.” The Volcano Circus Festival and Circus Village will be up and running until July 14 in Vatnsmýri, outside the Nordic House. The village is free to enter and tickets for individual performances are available on midi.is. Do it ! Whale Watching & Puffin Tours from Reykjavík 1½ hour Departure times in: June - July - August 08.00 - 10.00 - 14.00 Sími/Tel. 861 3840 We are located in the whale watch- ing area at Reykjavík Old Harbour. Watching the aerialist makes me nostalgic, sending me back to when I was eight years old, learning contor- tion and trapeze, and seeing the Ste- ben Twins performing in Cirque du Soleil’s Saltimbanco one New Years’ Eve. “There is really so much out there beyond the Cirque du Soleil,” Ilmur says. “These performers are coming from all over the world doing just amazing, crazy things.” Grand dazzling spectactles The performers of whom she speaks are from sixteen different circus companies that have come to Reyk- javík to be part of the Volcano Circus Festival, a grandiose event spanning ten days, seven tents and stretch- ing all the way to the Reykjavík City Theatre. The festival, Ilmur tells me, was truly the dream of the director of the Nordic House, Max Dager, who co-founded the Swedish company headlining the festival, Cirkus Cirkör. Cirkör will are bringing a daring new show to the City Theatre called ‘Wear It Like A Crown,’ involving gravity defying stunts, knife wielding tricks, and some risqué dance moves all on a huge revolving stage. The most oohs and ahhs will happen at the circus village though, where all the other acts will perform onsite either in the four volcano- christened tents – the aforemen- tioned along with Hekla, Askja and Katla. One of the stand-out shows in the village is Pluto Crazy, by companies Cirkus Xanti and Sirkus Aikimoinen. “Their show is so much fun for everybody,” Ilmur says grin- ning from ear to ear. “They are really funny and the things they do are just so astonishing. But it’s not just impressive because of the skill, it’s also really touching and beautiful.” So sincere it hurts This form of beauty through skillful display is one of the most sincere forms of performance, and although one of Reykjavík’s most famous night- clubs was called Sirkus, I wonder if a city that is as too-cool-for-school as this is ready for circus. “I really hope and think so because this tends to bring out the child in everyone,” Ilmur says. “It’s kind of hard to sit here and watch this and not be like, wow!” She also points out that circus can be sarcastic and flip too, and not just with clowns and silly music. Definitely through costume though, as is the case with solo performer Frida Odden Brinkman and her very backwards act. “It took me a while to realise what she was doing, because it was just this little weird man onstage,” Ilmur says suspisciously, “but it was her, bent over, with her butt in the air. Her butt is the performer.” Her butt? Ilmur stands up, bends over and shows me—her BUTT. Point taken. A little blue Of course, once the evening rolls around the village will morph into darker territory. Not quite as lurid as the after-dark scenes of the short-lived HBO series Carnivàle, but definitely lascivious. The Pain Solution Sideshow will present an array of classic Fakir feats (fire-eating and piercing and machetes oh my!), and local show Skinnsemi by Sirkus Íslands will put on a decidedly-adult cabaret of burlesque and vaudeville. Things will get even louder and wilder when the Burnt Out Punks roll in late at night on their motorcycles to juggle fire and chainsaws. So fuck- ing badass. Although Ilmur is confident that this event could spark a real circus- craze in Icelandic culture, audiences won’t be able to get their fix again. “This will probably be the only time this festival happens,” Ilmur says with a tone of melancholy. “Max has wanted to do this for a very long time, but it’s very difficult because it is so expensive. All the tents and equip- ment were shipped in from Norway and it’s just impossible to do that every year or two.” But for now, the big-ring will bustle revelry and magic, leaving some eight year old kid with dreams of running away and joining the circus. Running away to the circus may have become cultural shorthand for avoiding responsibility, but as the performers and directors of Reykja- vík’s upcoming Volcano Circus Fes- tival will tell you, circus life is hard work. That’s why the newly formed Circus Art Research Exchange (CARE) is such an important devel- opment in the circus world. Since receiving a grant from the EU, seven circus companies from Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France and the Czech Republic have come together to form an interna- tional circus network. Their first convention coincides with Reykja- vík’s Volcano Circus Festival and will continue on to Norway, Swe- den, France and beyond for the next two years. Olle Strandberg, a CARE coordi- nator from Sweden and circus art- ist turned director, said the conven- tion includes artistic meetings with circus directors (which are often few and far between), seminars on contemporary circus direction and research labs for exchanging ideas and techniques. Inside the circus tents, Tiziana Prota from Italy planned to test out a disintegrating ladder technique a local artist taught her as her part- ner, Natalie, hung from a hoop in an experimental rigging. As a part of the contemporary school of cir- cus performance, Tiziana said she likes to mix up the tried in true with new innovations. “When you first start creating,” she said, “you’re not sure what you’re going to find. Sometimes I have something in mind, but I like to be surprised.” In the library of the Nordic House, circus artists Hege Eriks- datter Østefiells from Norway and Aino Ihanainen from Finland were researching trees for a potential fu- ture project combining storytelling and circus performance. They were particularly inspired by a folk tale from Madagascar, which depicted life, death and trees as connected in a cycle. As CARE facilitates internation- al artistic exchange in the circus world, directors and performers will continue to raise the bar—and then most likely swing from it.
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