Thriller Sweden

A flower unfolding... and a surprise among the folds of my unwinding life. "Thriller Sweden" as we have boldly named the group is inspired by Micheal Jackson's music video for Thriller.

Zombies creep and crawl and the beat is irresistible. Örebro is also a cold and dark around the zombie time of the year, Halloween. So how perfect wouldn't it be to have a dans performance of the Thriller dans? This idea has evolved since the early winter last year. Has ofcourse taken some turns. Folded and whirled a few times and is now taken on it's shape.

On the 6th of april we had our first meeting, the choreographer, the organizers and the dancers! Of course the whole project, since we are all quite new to the idea the project is very organic. We are perfecting it as we go. I am very baffled by how it is, and that it is, happening though.

It started with my mother's enthusiasm, of course. She has the contacts and the nerves. We began sharing the idea with people we knew and started getting a more clear idea of what we were looking at. My mother at one point introduced me to a woman who is well established in Örebro and had a very big network of connections. Through her I met Idrissa Sanneh who has committed his life to create more possibilities for youth through The Growing Arts foundation. Growing Arts, at present, takes form as a network of over 100 members. They who have access to a recording studio in the basement of Idrissa's Hip-Hop clothing and accessory shop or possibility to perform with dance or music in shows organized by the foundation. A great opportunity for young performers to get confidence, meet others and do what they do best.

I presented my idea to Idrissa and the Growing Arts group and as of today I am part of the board of directors and creating Thriller Sweden with them. We are four project initiators, Idrissa and I as well as two others from the board, Therese Jakobsson and Assiba N'sougan.

In the last month we have been creating the website, printing flyers, spreading info and last tuesday we met our dancers. Now we look forward to getting to know our group and slowly but surely, live up to our name, "Thriller Sweden - Sweden's biggest Micheal Jackson dans core".

Kick Butt,

Isa

thrillerorebro.ning.com

                ~*~

GrowingArts

In the media (swedish):

• Newspaper article
• TV intervue

Easter in Denmark!

Last year while trading an au pair-ship for horsemanship knowledge in Denmark I met Anna Sofie ('95) and her family. Anna had also been guided by Jasmin, the horsemanship trainer, who is a friend of their family. The two of us did a lot of learning together and I shared my knowledge with her to inspire her relationship with Ofeig, the horse she 'plays' with.

Both Anna and I agree that we enjoyed our time together to much to be apart any longer so i skipped a doodle over to denmark on the easter holidays (one week).

On arrival we went to visit Ofeig and within the next few days i resumed my training, or what i prefer to call sharing sessions with Anna as well as playing with Lucky a horse i had met last summer.

At Lucky's stabbles I met Gry (pronounced with a particular scandinavian 'y' not explainable in english!), an elderly horsemanship enthusiast. We shared a words and Anna and I watched her work one of her horses one evening. The next day i also invited her to watch while I played with Lucky who acted as if I had never left (in more detail, he was just as light in hand and listening like never before).

Gry was excited by my work and I ended up helping her with her horses. She was so grateful in the end that she bought Anna and I a box of chocolates and some danish marzipan easter eggs!

I was also thrilled when another rider from Ofeig's stables asked me to ride her horse. Due to the little amount of time in Denmark this didn't lead to much.

I enjoyed staying with her wonderful family; Bente and Christian her parents, herself, and Maximillian her older brother. They have a cozy farm out in the Danish countryside with sheep, hens and a full fledge vegetable garden. In the summer time last year roses blossomed along there drive and flowers in all colors of the rainbow smiled at me from the garden. I was happy to return this year.

Anna and i made sure to make a little inspirational record of our feats. I made sure to film her one evening while I was guiding her in her play with Ofeig. She did loose work and our little film mystically illustrates Ofeig's attentiveness and the bond between the two of them.

In general I felt warmly welcome and appreciated in Denmark, especially in the horse scene. I have been discouraged in Sweden in the past due to not being know and thus not initially trusted by horse owners. I now feel inspired to inspire horsemanship again though. I am always happy when that energy streams through me.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the film...



Photos from the trip

One Hour Design

A friend of the house calls. "... I would love your help with something. I need my logo sent to a company tonight, is this possible?".

It's 10:00. There's school tomorrow... 

"Yeah, of course! Do you know how Skype works?". A ten minute intro to Skype, and were ready to discuss the logo. "What are your ideas? ... The more clear you are about what you want the faster I can work". Teaching about sending files. I discuss fonts while I download the images she likes which takes a few minutes. "What kind of fonts do you like?". ..."OK, I'll call you back after I've made an example image of the fonts i think you'll like."

"Hi again, did you receive the file? ...Ah the last one? And what about the images?  ...Ok, sounds good, I'll call back once I've got a draft". 

I show her a few ideas, she's really excited and I'm quick surprised by my effeciency. I make a few changes.

"Ok, what about this...?"

23:00... sent.

I love it when I surprise myself. When I accomplish something new. In this case the outcome is simple. Although after having crammed discussions, Skype lessons and personality / brand analyzation into one hour, I do feel good.

...and Hey! I get a massage/ spa treatment + another addition to my portfolio!

Next up?

Love.