During the residency we intend to attend to the practice that lies at the core of the choreographic work This Grace – first presented in collaboration with Iceland Dance Company and Reykjavik Art Museum in 2019.
This offer of time and space with Zodiak, in our very weird moment-in-time for the performing arts, is warmly welcomed and will be enjoyed with re-visiting this work; to engage with the practice in the studio, to formulate the work further and to invite new questions into the process.
This Grace deals with pleasure states and a certain expressive intimacy with oneself and space – things that we in this moment have become exaggeratingly hungry for. As we will not perform the work this time, we welcome the chance to update the practice and ourselves. A new colleague is joining us for the residency and will be introduced to the practice, which we are excited about, both as it deepens our own understanding to share it with a ´newcomer´ and may bring fresh questions.
Our desire for the future of This Grace is to be able to bring the practice to new performative contexts: For one, we see it as having a place as a part of a larger multi-disciplinary project that is in development at the moment, CLUB TENDER - an immersive club event that wishes to offer people a tender and socially sensual experience of a ‚wild night out‘, a night of soft clubbing. CLUB TENDER is planned to premiere in summer 2021 in Reykjavik.
We are curious about engaging more performers in the practice with time and to witness the work continue to shapeshift with bodies, encounters and contexts.
Introduction of the group - - +
The concept and first performances of This Grace were developed as collaboration of Saga S.dóttir, Halla Thordardottir and Hannes Egilsson. For our residency with Zodiak, Hannes will be replaced by a new collaborator, Adalheidur Halldorsdottir.
Saga S.dóttir is dancer and performance maker based in Reykjavik. Her practice is on one hand motivated by the expressive chaos and phantasmical potential of collective and multidisciplinary work, and on the other hand informed by the personal and psychophysical work of the dreaming dancing body. Saga is core member of art collectives Marble Crowd, The PPBB performance band and 16 Lovers theatre collective.
Saga graduated as Dance Maker from ArtEZ (NL), finalized her MFA studies in Performing Arts from Iceland University of the Arts (IUA) in 2017 and holds a BA in Theology from Iceland University. Her work has been supported and presented by platforms such as Reykjavik Dance Festival, Iceland National Theatre, K3 - Zentrum für Choreography Hamburg, Iceland Dance Company, The Living Art Museum in Reykjavik, Moderna Dansteatern and BIT Teater Garasjen, Bergen.
For choreography Saga has received nominations and awards such as the Icelandic Performing Arts Awards, TANZ Magazin Honor and Budapest International Solo&Duo Festival Award. From 2020 Saga is Associate professor at the Department for Performing Arts at IUA.
Halla Thordardottir graduated as a contemporary dancer from the Iceland University of the Arts in 2013. Halla has danced with a number of local and international choreographers and artists and has been a company dancer with the Iceland Dance Company, Royal Swedish Ballet and Sasha Waltz & Guests.
Halla is dancer and assistant choreographer in the 2018 film Suspiria, directed by Luca Guadagnino and choreographed by Damien Jalet. Halla’s interests lie within deep explorations of physicalities, physical sensations and bodily indulgences.
Adalheidur Halldorsdottir is a gloriously experienced dancer, being company dancer with the Iceland Dance Company 2003-2018 along with a great plenty of engagements as performer and choreographer in the local dance and theater scene in Iceland. Besides dancing, Adalheidur sings and writes.
