Life Is Like A Pair Of Race Dogs

Selma Reynisdóttir is a dancer and one of the choreographers in the show, ‘Independent Party People’ which is currently running at Tjarnarbíó. To celebrate, we sat down with Selma to find out what made her the artist she is today.

My sister
I think the first appreciation of art I experienced was when my sister and her friends got into Blur.

Damon Albarn was who they were mostly into. They were always asking me questions like: Who is the cutest? And I always had to answer: Damon Albarn. I was five and thought they were acting stupid and promised myself never to act this stupid about any boy.
Every time I hear “Girls and Boys,” I can see the CD case lying on our living room floor: The dogs racing, going somewhere but nowhere. I think the cover is a good metaphor to the Blur mania I witnessed. It came into my life like someone had released a pair of race dogs into our house, but as soon as they had run over every chair in the house they were gone and me and my sister moved on with our lives like nothing had happened.

I go through something similar when I am really into a project. The project becomes like two race dogs; running and knocking down all the furniture. The only thing you can do is to focus on the dogs while they are there.

Dogs
I love dogs. The relationship between human and dog goes far back and is complex. It can be beautiful at times, but also disturbing. One of my favourite books is ‘Timbuktu’ by Paul Auster, a story told by the dog Mr. Bones. I am also a big fan of the movie ‘Best in Show.’ At the moment I am looking, together with Losti Collective, into Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole from the sledge dog’s point of view.

Feel Free by Zadie Smith
I have kept this book close to me since this spring. The book is a collection of her essays that range from the topic of Brexit to dance lessons for writers. Usually when I read, I read with my brain and the activity of reading keeps within our social construct of dualism. I read while my body lies or sits still. But when I read this book my body is active. Not only is it because some of her essays describe how humans move their body through the social-political landscape, but also because of the rhythm in the text itself.

Blood Orange
I once read it in an interview that Blood Orange doesn’t want people to immediately like his music; he’d rather they be intrigued. I think that is really cool and I like the thought of people not liking your stuff immediately. If I like something immediately things don’t stay with my thoughts as much, then I just put them straight away to the “I like this” category. But if I am intrigued first, then I get to develop my love for the music or whatever I am intrigued by. And also Dev Hynes’ dog is named after his album, ‘Cupid.’

How do people get their moves?!
Those who share the dance floor with me give me a lot of inspiration. Lately, I have been wondering how people stylise their movements, especially in Iceland where dance is not a part of the culture. How do people develop their personal dancing style? When I go out dancing I see so many great dancers, and I keep wondering how they developed their personal dance style. Have they practised at home? Are they influenced by someone? And will their dance style still be the same tomorrow?