Reykjavík Grapevine - 16.08.2013, Page 38

38The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 12 — 2013 Dance
LET’S DANCE
The Reykjavík Dance Festival 2013 is almost here!
Words by Rebecca Louder – Photos curtesy of Reykjavík Dance Festival
At the end of the month, our fair
city will be inundated by perfor-
mance. Since 2002, the Reykjavík
Dance Festival has been the single
most important time of year for
Iceland’s independent profession-
al dancers and has contributed to
the vast growth and expansion of
their work.
Operating on a purely local
level for its first few years, the fes-
tival had a couple of re-toolings
until they landed on a model that
truly fit. Since last year, the event
is curated by different artistic di-
rectors, and this year it is spear-
headed by multi-platform perform-
ers Erna Ómarsdóttir and Valdimar
Jóhannsson. It is also partnered
with the Lókal International The-
atre Festival for the second time
and shares the same social space.
This year’s edition stands out
for having the highest number of
international performers involved
in the festival. Although the festi-
val is primarily made by and for the
local freelance dance community,
the growing number of foreign
guests allows them to make better
outside connections, build collabo-
rations and fit into the context of
the European dance community.
Among the international per-
formers are Deufert&Plischke from
Germany, bringing a piece entitled
‘ANARCHIV#2: second hand’ which
Thomas Plischke says allows the
audience to play along with them,
but never forces them into partici-
pation. The Brussels-based Dane
Mette Ingvartsen will perform
‘Evaporated Landscapes’, a piece
comprised of ephemeral elements
subject to factors like temperature,
lights, body bass and mechanics.
Heine Avdal and Yukiko Shinozaki,
the Swedish-Japanese couple who
go by the name Fieldworks, will
deal with uncertainty, immediacy
and humour in their piece ‘Bor-
rowed Landscapes’, performed in
the Bónus grocery store.

Back with our locals, there will
be several much anticipated pre-
mieres, including ‘Scape Of Grace’
by Saga Sigurðarsdóttir, ‘Soft
Target Installed’ by Margrét Sara
Guðjónsdóttir and ‘To The Bone’
by Erna and Valdimar’s company
Shalala. The latter will also act as
an introductory performance for
the ‘Black Yoga Screaming Cham-
ber’, an ongoing installation by
Erna and Valdi found at various
locations until September 1, which
will bear some loud and intense
fruit.
This festival is the local dance
community’s answer to Iceland
Airwaves: it’s just as cool and
jam-packed full of amazing talent,
and you don’t have to wait in long
queues! So take the week off work,
drop the kids off with the grand-
parents, devote one week of your
life to performance art and enjoy!
While the festival’s artistic director’s hands are spilling over
with curatorial work, next year’s pre-selected directors, Alex-
ander Roberts and Ásgerður G. Gunnarsdóttir, a.k.a. Choreog-
raphy Reykjavík, are in charge of setting up the SUPER SOCIAL
SPACE, a type of pop-up outreach space where the dance com-
munity and the non-dance related public can converge.
Taking place in Dansverkstæðið, a dance and choreography
space attached to KEX Hostel, the space will be open for the
festival’s ten days with a slew of free events – workshops, lec-
tures, performances, dancing, and nightly parties. “It’s kind of
like a magic trick or a con where we’re using DJs, free publica-
tions and free food to get people into the space,” Alexander
says, “then we try to confront them with contemporary dance
and choreography.”
He says this approach is a targeted response to the feeling
that the Reykjavík dance community is an opaque, exclusive
world where non-dancers see no room for themselves. His and
Ásgerður’s company have been making a push over the past
year to include different types of people into their works and
he says this is an attempt to bring people in on another level.
So head over for breakfast and the Morning Clashes series,
an evening meal and a Choreography For Dinner, or a late night
drink and some rowdy dancing. They welcome everyone with
open arms and jazz hands.
WELCOME TO OUR TRULY SPECIAL WORLD Book your ticket online & save
time for relaxing
23 1 ISKVarious locations http://reykjavikdancefestival.tumblr.com 14,900, 9,900 or 2,200
AUG SEP
Dance Festival Social Club
Kattrin Deufert & Thomas Plischke let the audience get playful in ANARCHIV#2: second hand.
Diederik Peeters confuses and mis-
directs with his paranoia-inspired
piece, Red Herring.
The Surprised Body Project by Franscesco Scavetta & Wee creates com-
plex metaphors using human bodies.