Anna Manning
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Swan Lake Without The Swan Song
On November 14 and 15, the St. Petersburg Festival Ballet teamed up with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra to stage a spectacular performance of ‘Swan Lake’. Filled with exciting sets and costumes, beautiful ballerinas and danseurs, and fantastic music, it was really a…
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Sigga Soffía’s ‘Kafli 2’: Maybe 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. Interviewing the…
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RDF: Every Body’s Spectacular, Whatever You May Think Of Their Art
As August faded away into an early winter, the Reykjavík Dance Festival (RDF) and the Lókal International Theatre Festival combined their efforts to stage a fantastic five-day event under the heading “Every Body’s Spectacular,” packed with exciting performances and exhibitions. I tried…
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Today At The Reykjavík Dance Festival: Sunday 30 August
The Reykjavík Dance Festival (RDF) is in full swing, five glorious days of performances, workshops, and more. Navigating the schedule can be a daunting task, so read on for a short list of things to look out for today. ‘Crisis Meeting’ by the Kriðpleir Theatre…
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Today At The Reykjavík Dance Festival: Saturday 29 August
The Reykjavík Dance Festival (RDF) is in full swing, five glorious days of performances, workshops, and more. Navigating the schedule can be a daunting task, so read on for a short list of things to look out for today. ‘GRRRRLS’ by Ásrún Magnúdsóttir At the…
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Today At The Reykjavík Dance Festival: Friday 28 August
The Reykjavík Dance Festival (RDF) is in full swing, five glorious days of performances, workshops, and more. Navigating the schedule can be a daunting task, so read on for a short list of things to look out for today. ‘Firsts: BRÍET: Up With The Skirts’…
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Today At The Reykjavík Dance Festival: Thursday, August 27
Much to the delight of dance enthusiasts, the August 2015 Reykjavík Dance Festival (RDF) kicked off yesterday. This past November, February and May, RDF created a platform for great performances spread out over several weeks at a time, but this is the…
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The Icelandic Myth In Spanish Media
Over the last few years, a myth of sorts has developed around Iceland’s response to the economic crash. At some point—due to bad translations or wishful thinking—an idea arose that Iceland is some sort of utopian paradise where the bad bankers are…
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Review: ‘Blæði: Obsidian Pieces’
For this year’s Reykjavík Arts Festival, Iceland Dance Company presents ‘Blæði: obsidian pieces,’ made up of four works by Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet. The premiere met with overwhelmingly positive reviews from dance aficionados and rookies alike. It’s an outstanding overall performance, but…
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Choreographer Damien Jalet on making ‘BLÆÐI: obsidian pieces’
This month, Iceland Dance Company will present ‘BLÆÐI: obsidian pieces’ as part of the Reykjavík Arts Festival. The show is a combination of four works by Belgian choreographer Damien Jalet, conceived both independently and with the help of collaborating choreographers Erna Ómarsdóttir…
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BANDALOOP: Dancing On The Walls
One of the most exciting works at this year’s Reykjavík Arts Festival is sure to be the performance by California-based dance company BANDALOOP. They are world-famous for using rock climbing technology to dance on the sides of skyscrapers, mountains and convention halls,…
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Population Of Iceland On The Rise
Iceland’s population increased by 700 people in the first three months of 2015, reports Statistics Iceland. At the end of March the population of Iceland was 329,740, which is nearly a 0.25% rise from the beginning of January. The growth was due…
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17.8% Of People Living In Iceland Use Public Transport, And It’s Not Only Who You Think
Nearly 18% of people living in Iceland regularly used public transport in 2014 according to Statistics Iceland, the official data collection office. Those earning in the bottom tenth percentile bracket have the highest rate of regular public transport use, at 30.5%. The data…
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Veterinarians Go On Strike
Icelandic pig and poultry farmers are expressing their anxiety over the upcoming strike involving veterinarians. Members of 16 unions are striking at noon on Thursday with further strikes scheduled throughout May. The strike is organised by Starfsgreinasamband Íslands (SGS), which is the largest…
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A Visit To Quest – Hair, Beer & Whisky Saloon
To be blunt, the nightlife in 105 Reykjavík leaves something to be desired. So, when I heard that a new barber/whiskey bar was opening I was very excited. It’s perfect for Reykjavík hipsters who live outside of 101, satisfying the need to…
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The Sheer Number Of Tourists
Last month, I visited Keflavík International Airport for the first time since their recent renovation. It’s nice that there are more shops, annoying that you are now forced to walk through duty-free, and shocking that all the signs are in English. At…
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What ‘Exploration’ In Drekasvæðið Actually Means
Everyone can agree that drilling in the Arctic is a very serious issue, and in the last couple of weeks Icelandic politicians have come out against it. However, when discussing action in Drekasvæðið it seems necessary to set the record straight on…
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Anna Diljá Designs A Hotplate That “Melts”
As part of DesignMarch, artist Anna Diljá Sigurðardóttir is presenting her exhibition ‘Hofsjökull Hitaplatti’ (‘Hofsjökull Hotplate’) at Loft Hostel. The work shows how the glacier Hofsjökull will shrink over the next 300 years due to climate change. In anticipation of the event,…
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Why Faroe Petroleum Stopped Looking in Drekasvæðið
On December 12, 2014 Iceland’s national energy authority, Orkustofnun, reported that they had “received a notification from operator Faroe Petroleum that the company along with its partners, Petoro Iceland and Iceland Petroleum, relinquish their licence” and that they had “accepted the relinquishment of…
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Third Time’s The Charm
This past weekend I attended ‘walk+talk’ at Borgarleikhúsið as part of the Reykjavík Dance Festival (RDF). I knew very little about the performance but was eager to see it after Ásgerður Gunnarsdóttir, one of the artistic directors of RDF, said it was…
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The Pros And Cons Of The Inevitable Bolludagur Stomach Ache
In certain parts of the world, ‘Lent’ (the forty days leading up to Easter) is a period of time when Christians give up certain comforts in the way that Jesus did before his crucifixion. Sure, Jesus wandered through the desert and most people…
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Why They Think There Is Something Worth Finding In Drekasvæðið
Anyone at all interested in oil exploration in Iceland is probably familiar with some of the more controversial topics such as environmental repercussions and the private companies involved. While it is clear from the news coverage that there has been activity in…
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Speak Dance, Watch Dance, Dance, Dance!
Throughout the month of February, the Reykjavík Dance Festival (RDF) will be in full swing. What started as a group of independent artists looking for a platform to work on their art has since developed into an established festival with four major…