Choreographing Crescendos

by Katrín Gunnarsdóttir: 

"KVIKA is a group performance based on tension. We started from the performers’ different physical relationship with tension and worked on how to extend this tension through the body and to the audience. Pairing this with the expectations of the audience and feedback, I started gauging the capacity of different choreographed moments of tension to have certain effects, to entertain or evoke catharsis for example. However, in KVIKA I wanted to try and displace the spectacular aspect somehow, work through the spectacle to try and centre it in relation to this tension. 

My methodology was to create physical crescendos through different compositional strategies and seeking ways of choreographing positive encounters, with people as sensual beings, moving together and listening to each other. "

Kvika premiered at the National Theatre in Iceland in March 2016 to critical acclaim and was nominated for the “Choreographer of the year” award at the Icelandic Performing Arts Awards Gríman in 2016.