Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.07.2013, Page 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.