the valley

The Valley

One, doubled, a copy, a fake, two fakes, two of the same fake, identical, One. This is The Valley, where the 2 become 1… or two.

The Valley is a place where man and machine have merged and the boundaries between lifeless bodies and animate machines have blurred. The Valley is a place of doubles. Where two become one, only to duplicate again, as it becomes unclear where one thing ends and another begins. What is a replica of which? Playing on the line of what is natural and what is artificial the performers use objects to make sounds and sounds to make movements as they question what is really in control. By dwelling in the ambiguous grey zone, in the valley of the uncanny, they bring to focus the double meaning of mechanical humans, artificial nature, organic machines and synthetic gardens. This double meaning puts off the soothing comfort of the perfect symmetry, the perfect mathematical order.

We are forced to deal with cognitive conflicts in everyday life, when we find ourselves in unfamiliar situations. In days where the virtual is valued as a real world, we are asking ourselves what is a representation of which? Instead of juxtaposing the artificial and the natural, can we experience them together as something real, as a synchronized concept? When the line between what is genuine and what is false becomes obscured, the valley deepens and ambiguous meanings arise.

Choreography and performance: Inga Huld Hákonardóttir & Rósa Ómarsdóttir
Music: Sveinbjörn Thorarenssen
Scenography: Ragna Þórunn Ragnarsdóttir

Supported by: Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek, Vooruit, BUDA, wp-Zimmer, Work Space Brussels, De School van Gaasbeek, Tjarnabíó-Theater, Reykjavík Dance Atelier and Reykjavík Dance Festival. The Icelandic Ministry of Culture and Education, Reykjavík Culture Fund, Garðabær Fund.

Performances:
Reykjavík Dance Festival (Reykjavik) 19 November 2015
Tjarnarbíó (Reykjavík) 22, 28 & 29 November & 19 December 2015
Everybody’s Spectacular (Reykjavík) 28 August 2016
BudaVista (Kortrijk) 8 October 2016
MDT (Stockholm) 22 & 23 March 2017
Avant Garden (Trondheim) 29 April 2017
Julidans (Amsterdam) 14 & 15 July 2017
Ganz Novi Festival (Zagreb) 21 September 2017