Kristin Ladström | blogg: March 2019

waffle breakfast & louisiana

After Hygge Blues, Liam and I stayed in Copenhagen for two days, before we took the train to Gothenburg for Swingin' Spring. We stayed with Helene and Miranda in their lovely apartment, and woke up to a waffle brunch on our first day there. <3

Later that day Liam and I went to Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, which is one of my favourite places on earth. Liam isn't that into art (I know - some of you probably gasp as loudly reading this, as I do when someone says "my boyfriend isn't that into music" or "my boyfriend doesn't read much" ... But what can I say, I fell in love with the man) but I really wanted to take him once as it's such an important place to me.

Unfortunately we were both tired and grumpy and it wasn't a great day. I didn't love the exhibitions, either; I think it may be the first time I've been there that I didn't really find anything especially interesting.

Liam felt ostracised by the art lingo and the general eliteness of the place, which was an important wake up call for me. I forget that I have the privilege of having a relationship with modern art, a relationship I've nurtured for more than twenty years. To me it all feels incredibly accessible. I forget that modern art is a language and if you don't speak it, if you don't have anything to relate it to in your life, it's very likely to feel like a clique that you're not invited into; strange rituals, impossible to decode. (Kind of like sports feel like to me.)

He's also the kind of person that you need to tell that you're not necessarily supposed to touch the artworks, which I find ... oddly refreshing.

The only bit of Pippilotti Rist exhibition that I really liked was this room, and to be honest, I probably liked it mostly because it's similar to (but not as good as) ...

... Gleaming Lights of the Souls by Yayoi Kusama, which is always worth going to Louisiana for.

Oh, honey. :)

Drew Gehling & Jessie Mueller from the Waitress soundtrack | You Matter To Me

the sky is crying at hygge blues

Sitting down to write about my experience of performing with the Sky is Crying at Hygge Blues, I realise I only have one thing to tell you. And not because I want to hide other feelings, but because this feeling is so huge, it outshines everything else; it becomes the only thing that is truly important to tell you.

I loved it.

I remember standing there, overlooking a sea (well, it's a cosy event, so maybe not an entire sea - maybe more like a small and lovely lake) of dancers, singing my heart out, being entirely and totally present and inside the music, and feeling with every nerve in my body: this is it. This is perfect. This is what I want. All the work, all the hours of rehearsal and planning, all the worrying about money and freelance life, all the music I've ever listened to, all the fears of not being good enough, all my knowledge: It all brought me here, now, and it's perfect: This is where I want to be, singing this music, for you.

That feeling of flow is better than almost anything else in life.

Thank you for being there, in it, with me.

And thank you to Marcus and Gustav for sharing it all with me: the music, the work, the hours, the decisions, and the flow.

(Liam took all these photos, with my camera. Thank you darling! I've trained him well, haven't I? :))

hygge blues 2019 part II

Sunday photos from Hygge Blues! It seems like I always have more photos I'm happy with from Sunday dances than Friday or Saturday dances. I'm not 100% sure, but I strongly suspect that other people feel like me: that the Sunday dance is always the best one. People are so much more relaxed, they've learned new things in classes that they are eager to explore on the dance floor, it's not as scattered as the Friday dance where much of the time is spent hugging friends you haven't seen in months and not as hyped as the Saturday which is often the "main" dance night ... Sundays are just perfect. And I think it shows in the photos, don't you?