Trailer for We'll Dance on the Ash of the Apocalypse *Icelandic version*

We didn’t receive the big Icelandic theatre fund in Iceland.

We were broken hearted.

Well, we wish they would have had the chance to see this beautiful trailer that showcases our rehearsal process winter 2021-22. This is such an important, beautiful, honest and vulnerable story. We can’t wait to share it with you during Reykjavík Fringe Festival summer 2022!

And bring on the next fundraising application round! ;) pfft! We’ve got this.

Subtitles in the lower right corner! Icelandic and English available.

Shoutout LA Interview

I did an interview with lovely Mike Bhand at ShoutoutLA, and figured I’d share some brief excerpts here.

solveig eva

Hi Sólveig, alright, let’s jump in with a deep one – what’s your definition for success?
I’m learning more and more that success isn’t linear, stable or to be conflated with happiness – even at the highest echelons of my industries. I’ve been redefining success as I mature. I’ve gained too much appreciation, understanding and self respect to define “success” as constant income or relentless praise. Today “success” can mean that I myself enjoy what I crafted, that it led to a new discovery or growth, or that my art sparked joy or a conversation.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a multi-disciplinary storyteller. I know that sounds horribly pretentious, but it really just means that I’m really excited about creating stories for you that come in different shapes. I am a member of a codependent art form: acting relies on someone else sharing the space with you in order to exist, it needs an audience to be complete. It benefits greatly from a writer, a director, another actor to react to. On top of that it’s really lovely to have a choreographer, composer, costume designer, scenic designer, cinematographer etc. – the collaborative opportunities are endless. When you get to be a part of something like that the world sings, everything falls away and you get to belong to this strange meditative harmonious performance art that feels oh so wonderfully self indulgent while also tending to be really socially important as it’s where we practice empathy and reflect on human relationships and behaviour together. I’m also a member of more independent art forms: illustrating and writing. You don’t need anyone’s permission to create these – no casting director, no director, no audience. It can exists for its own sake, and each view is just an added bonus. It gleefully bursts out of your head and onto the page and voila – it’s a part of this world whether you caught the artist at work or not. I adore art for the artist’s unique perspective, for the humour and playfulness, for the pure creative joy, for the empathy, the ability to open our eyes to experiences different from our own, and for the tendency to connect us by evoking shared emotions. Once you’re hooked to an artistic discipline you don’t feel present, honest, in alignment or truthful to your nature unless you get to express it in some somewhat silly way.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I don’t know where I’d be without the women of Spindrift – Bergdís Júlía Jóhannsdóttir, Anna Korolainen Crevier, Henriette Kristensen and Tinna Þorvalds Önnudóttir. If it wasn’t for the numerous talented creative women I’m lucky enough to consider friends and collaborators, I don’t know where I’d be. My biggest advise to every artist is finding a community where you feel inspired by your peers, safe to be yourself, supported and supportive, and where you’re allowed to vent about the horrible friction between the art and its industry.

Monetising...

…the dread of every freelancing artist is talking money. Whether at a dinner party with your family. Standing up for your worth with a client. Explaining expenses to your friends who you would love to create for, but…! Or trying to push a project through when the project itself doesn’t fall neatly under any major art fund. Oih boih.

Monetising art has always been difficult. When there are no wealthy patrons to take interest in your projects, where do you turn?

We in Spindrift have put great effort in sourcing finances beyond crowdfunding after feeling overwhelmed by the inevitable avalanche of projects of friends and acquaintances after graduation. While crowdfunding was an essential part in getting Spindrift’s early projects off the ground, we quickly feared it would exhaust the support and kindness of our networks.

DRl06MsX0AAvl7y.jpg

There are many wonderful resources for artists, especially in Europe, when it comes to arts funding. It is highly competitive, requires patience during the months of processing, and a great amount of resilience for the inevitable rejections. But sometimes, in order to properly present your project to those large funds you have to have first done a Residency or a Research and Development production to have proper marketing materials and to legitimise your process.

That’s where we are now. Spindrift is staging a Research and Development production at Dixon Place in lower Manhattan in the hopes of staging a fully developed version in Icelandic and New York theatres. This production plays an integral role in developing the script, exploring the movement choreography, composing our own theme music and creating a video trailer and production photography to market this beautiful storytelling piece.

Actors Chris and Léerin during rehearsals

Actors Chris and Léerin during rehearsals

Through crowdfunding we were able to source a table and a bicycle important to the movement choreography and references in the script. We were able to cover our rehearsal space expenditures through a combination of funding and collaborating with artist friendly spaces. But we still have a little to go if we are to cover our performers with modest stipends after donating two months of their focus and hard work.

We want this event to be accessible to all, and so we will not be charging for tickets during our Research and Development run on Saturday 28th March, 7:30pm at Dixon Place. The greatest support you can provide any artist is simply showing up to see their work.

But if you are able to donate the equivalent of a cup of coffee with a friend, or the ticket price we forfeited for accessibility, your donation is sure to cause a ripple of happy dances through New York City.

Awards include our limited edition show poster, a thank you video from the cast and crew and even a producer title. Will you help us achieve our goals?

We´ll Dance on the Ash of the Apocalypse

In June last year my friend Melissa-Kelly Franklin sent me a play she had written. Like her other work it made my heart flutter. All her work has such a distinct quality of gently zooming in on human beauty and vulnerability, tackling difficult social problems with graceful listening.

We had met during a theatre production by practitioner Yorgos Karamalegos, staged at PhysFest in Liverpool in 2013. She, a Greek-Australian filmmaker and playwright, I an Icelandic actress and artistic director, moved away from one another after that summer in England but still kept in touch about our creativities and industry frustrations.

I was so honoured last fall when she asked if I wanted to stage the production - to explore it further. She was currently staging the first R&D in Greenwich, UK. She was passionate about amplifying the discussion on global warming through environmentally friendly art forms. She spoke of the power of playwriting - how a piece of art can be staged locally with local creators for local audiences simultaneously across the world to tackle a universal problem. Melissa-Kelly has been an avid supporter of Spindrift since our earliest experimentations, and we loved this opportunity to finally get to collaborate.

solveig well dance.jpg

I set about contacting venues local to my New York home and contacted a trusted creator friend Anne Windsland. We have frequently collaborated on photoshoots, video shoots, and experimentations. She is one of the creative women I admire and lean on the most in New York - as being a woman in the world of typecasting and modelling is only sufferable with knowing allies. I called my army of Spindrift women: Anna, Bergdís and Tinna, to be my remote producers. Brainstorming, pulling our resources, and organising together for a more supported stronger production with a lifespan exceeding this initial NYC R&D.

We set about casting the production and found two wonderful performers. Léerin Campbell, who to me seemed like a young activist Jane Fonda and painted beautifully the fire and fear of the Young Woman, and Chris Nester, equipped with humour, charm and vulnerability we hoped for in our Young Man.

Léerin, Young Woman

Chris, Young Man

Sólveig, Director

Anne, Assistant Director

Throughout our Research and Development rehearsals at Dixon Place we have brought in trusted friends of Spindrift. Directing is such a good place to confront my own confidence, strengths and weaknesses. I knew I wanted a specialist in movement, and a specialist in music, to give us the tools we needed to dive even deeper into our material.

Luckily talented Sean Hollands of Fable Workshop Theatre and Frantic Assembly was game to Skype in to our most timid movement choreography sessions. We had studied at the same school and kept an eye on each other’s creative projects. I had illustrated his most recent production poster, he had participated in my interview series GRIT. I deeply admire his incredible eye for movement, his playfulness and lightness while directing heavy material, his ability to guide even non-movers through stunningly complicated movement sequences and his passion for constantly growing as a practitioner - having recently become an intimacy coordinator in addition to his movement and theatre direction.

We also contacted lovely Pekka Koivisto. Our Finnish composer from previous Spindrift projects, and friend of Anna Korolainen Crevier. There are few people who can create as beautiful complicated pieces from as vague directions. I remember throwing him the words “womb! earthy! embrace!” and out came a gorgeous cello theme music for our production Carroll: Berserkur, also featured in our workshop series. Creative talent much desired when as musically challenged as yours truly.

Melissa-Kelly, Playwright

Anna, Producer

Sean, Movement Director

Bergdís, Producer

Pekka, Composer

Tinna, Producer

We have three more weeks of rehearsals left of this R&D, before working with local artists in Reykjavík during Reykjavík Fringe Festival at the beautiful venue Iðnó. This beautiful piece of new writing is slowly taking shape, ranging from humorous playful moments of a young couple’s loving relationship to their deepest fears and anger. While organising these rehearsals we did not foresee the severity of the bush fires in Australia, and suddenly a piece warning about the potential future felt like a horridly contemporary tale. Throughout all, the main message is hope. Hope for humanity. Hope for the future.