Iceland Dance

Last night, I got to see a New England performance by Iceland Dance, now on its first ever U.S. tour. The company opened with Peter Anderson's "Critic's Choice," a multimedia, interactive piece in which the performers--dancing to the music of Otis Redding--are accompanied by an ongoing dialog between a critic from the company and the composer via a webcam. I thought the piece was fascinating. The dancers were fantastic and the concept engaging and distancing at the same time. Go Brecht.

The second act comprised two pieces: the duet, "Elsa," and "Man is Always Alone." Both worked well.

Iceland Dance uses traditional dance forms in very contemporary ways. While the "Critics" really impressed me, the evening itself was very impressive. When I visited Iceland, I felt that I had visited a culture that was founded on the same ideas and concepts of many cultures. But because of its isolation and desolation (it is, afterall, a big hunk of lava rock), the culture flourished in its own direction and on its own terms. That's what I felt about Iceland Dance, too.