– the coexistence of humans and nature

The Iceland Dance Company presents The Garden / Beings of Paradise, an evening in which a dance work and a dance film meet in a shared meditation on the connections between body, nature, and perception.

The dance film Birds of Paradise by Vikram Pradhan is an experimental reflection on eco-sexuality, ecological sensitivity, and the forest’s web of relationships. Its inspiration is drawn from the Chipko movement in India in the 1970s, when women peacefully resisted deforestation by embracing trees and becoming a living protective barrier against forest destruction. Vikram imagines how the forest itself might have responded to such acts of protection and love.

In the work, the forest appears not as a passive landscape but as a sensing being, capable of thriving through recognition, intimacy, and reciprocal relationships. The landscape comes alive through emotional reciprocity that challenges dominant ideas of stewardship and control. The piece opens up a vision of coexistence in which humans and nature grow together through mutual connection, grounded in care and presence.

Birds of Paradise shares the evening with the dance work The Garden by Antonio de Rosa and Mattia Russo and together these two works form a single, cohesive experience in which the garden and the forest become spaces for contemplation, sensitivity, and connection. The Garden / Birds of Paradise is an invitation to step into a living landscape and experience new ways of being together.