Thinking out loud: Ballet, La mer, witches and pocket mirrors
Dear reader,
Living in the Nordics, you can't have one without the other. The winters are as long and dark as the summers are gloriously bright and mild. Looking out into the gloom from my desk reminds me that everything is as it should be.
Halloween has come and gone and I’ve been thinking a lot about the image of the witch (I’m also halfway through Mandanna’s book The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches). I find that women have lately taken back the power of the witch as an independent woman. It made me think about the work of the Spanish-Mexican artist Remedios Varo (1908-63). She was active during one of the most misogynistic times in recent years and (still) made incredible art. She often explored alchemy and magic in her paintings and her artwork comes to my mind when I hear the word: witch.
My colleague chatted a bit when we both arrived early Friday morning at the office. She is Italian and unforgivingly authentic, which I adore. I learned she'd trained as a ballet dancer when she was younger and that she thinks Maya Schonbrun is the most talented ballet dancer alive. Schonbrun is right now employed at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. I'm not sure if she is cast in anything yet but Giselle is playing later in spring. My colleague thought that she would play the perfect Giselle.
On the same Friday, my friends and I went to Oscar Fredrik's Church and listened to Claude Debussy's La Mer in three parts. I read somewhere that Debussy was inspired by Hokusai's "The Wave of Kanagawa" and he had a print in his home when writing the music.
I found a girl on Etsy who sells pocket mirrors that you can get engraved. Which I fell for immediately. I also think that it would be such a nice gift for someone.