Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.11.2015, Qupperneq 50

The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16 — 201518
The show is the second part of a piece
called ‘Stjörnubrim og himinninn kristal-
last’. When asked to describe “stjör-
nubrim,” Sigga Soffía explained that it
comes from a poem by revered poet Davíð
Stefánsson (1895-1964). The term is a
composite of the words for star and the
perilous white froth of a wave that sinks
ships out at sea. The first part, the “stjör-
nubrim,” was the Vodafone fireworks dis-
play at Culture Night this past August, in
collaboration with the search and rescue
team HSSR. For this second part, she col-
laborated with Iceland Dance Company
(ID), aiming to produce a similar effect
through dance.
Setting the stage
In the style of classic musicals, the open-
ing scene was an overture of sorts. The
curtains opened to an empty set with sus-
pended cloud of bubbles and fog cascad-
ing off the lip of the stage, all to soft music,
creating a dream-like ambience. Without
dancers, the scene remained visually in-
teresting via lights shining into the bub-
bly cloud, giving the impression of being
in heaven. The opening was beautiful, but
the heavy reliance on props and effects
continued throughout the show, often dis-
tracting from the dancers.
Sigga Soffía explained how set design-
er Helgi Már Kristinsson created the bub-
bly cloud sculpture as a backdrop for light-
ing, much like Sigga uses smoke to build
landscapes to light up in her fireworks
displays. At one point during the perfor-
mance the sculpture was released and the
bubbles spilled down onto the stage. “And
just like the smoke in the wind, we cannot
control where the sculpture lands on the
stage. So we also have this element of ex-
citement, will the dancers be affected, will
the sculpture be in front of them, or work
with them,” she said.
First-class choreography
The phrases of movement were excellent,
smoothly alternating between breathy
and athletic. You could really see the
dancers reaching beyond their personal
space with every step. “In my mind there
is a close connection between fireworks
and the classical dancer,” Sigga said, ex-
plaining her choice of using classical bal-
let vocabulary. From where I was sitting,
any real ballet technique was well hidden
beneath contemporary styles and influ-
ences. However, the precision and flowing
quality of classical dance were definitely
present.
Undoubtedly, the two main high-
lights of the performance were the solos
by Hjördís Lilja Örnólfsdóttir and Halla
Þórðardóttir. Each dancer was assigned
one kind of firework as inspiration.
Throughout the performance, Hjördís
was dressed in a fluffy, white, layered
costume that made her look more like a
cake-topper than an explosion. Then, just
before her solo, concealed LED lights lit
up the costume and transformed her into
an elegant and graceful wisp. She did not
execute any spectacular jumps or poses,
but rather spun around the stage in gentle,
concentric circles. The effect was truly
beautiful.
Halla’s solo, by contrast, had a much
different dynamic. Sigga described Hal-
la’s “character” to me as “Falling Leaves,
which is a like a slow cloud of glitter.” In
a costume of a unitard covered in small
mirror-like flags, her powerful solo was
performed weaving in and out of beams
of lights like a disco ball. But, if you
strip away the costume and the set you
would still have Halla seamlessly moving
through luxurious extensions and mag-
nificent jumps.
Don’t tell me, show me
Most new contemporary works I have
seen have had some form of dialogue, with
the dancers either uttering obscure poetic
phrases to complement the music, or act-
ing out a scripted scene between dance
pieces. ‘Kafli 2’ took this one step further
with a narrator. For me, this was a poor
choice. It explained too much and did not
leave enough to the imagination. Rather
than letting the audience draw connec-
tions between the similarities of dancers
and fireworks, the narration bluntly stated
what should have been left to the choreog-
raphy to illustrate.
Dance is by nature more obscure than
other art forms. If a painter is moved by a
sunset he can draw a picture, an actor can
talk about it, but the challenge of chore-
ography is to describe the sunset through
movement.
“It’s so beautiful, but tragic to be a fire-
work. They are shot up into the sky, spring
out and bloom before decaying swiftly
into nothingness. They give themselves to
their audience. The same can be said of a
dancer that dedicates their life to tuning
their body into a perfect instrument. They
train, they flourish, but always tire before
their time,” Sigga Soffía explains when
asked about the motivation behind the
piece.
What she explained in these five sen-
tences, the narration drew out over entire
sections of the piece. The description of a
dancer’s fleeting career carried out so long
that it came across as jaded or apathetic:
“I do not enjoy it anymore. I crave the at-
tention and pain. I crave your eyes on me.”
The narrator then detailing the chemical
make-up of the fireworks was akin to a US
senator reciting the phone book during a
filibuster.
This is not to say that narration would
not be a welcome addition to many works
where the choreographer fails to get the
point across. I imagine announcing during
the opening act of ‘La Sylphide’ that “It’s
all about a magical scarf and a prince who
leaves his fiancée for a ghost,” would clear
up a few valid confusions later on and all
in all make it a more enjoyable show. But,
Sigga Soffía did such a great job with the
choreography that the narration was un-
necessary. The movement had grand dis-
plays followed by weariness showing the
fireworks’—and dancers’—awe-inspiring,
yet limited, lifespan.
Ultimately, I give it three out of five
stars. The narration was unnecessary and
the set was too heavily relied on. This is
not to say the costumes or props were in
anyway poor quality—any performance
that credits a “pyrotechnician” is bound to
be impressive—but that it became more of
a distraction than an aid. The strength of
the piece was definitely the choreography,
and it should have been allowed to stand
on its own.
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Maybe A Little Too
Much Of A Good
Thing
Walking into a packed Borgarleikhús to see the premiere of Sigga Soffía’s new work ‘Kafli
2: og himininn kristallast’ (“Chapter 2: And The Sky Crystallizes”), I was surrounded by the
excited whispers of little girls, middle-aged couples, and cool twentysomethings. Interview-
ing the choreographer, Sigga Soffía, before the show, I had some idea of what to expect, but
I was eager to see how the dancers would transform the excitement and energy of fireworks
into movement.
Photo Jónatan GrétarssonWords Anna Manning
BorgarleikhúsIceland Dance Company 2,900 ISK Kafli 2: Og himininn kristallast