stockholm blues fest part I

I spent the long weekend* at Stockholm Blues Fest; four days at a hostel outside of Södertälje. There was grass to rest on in the daytime, live music to enjoy in the evenings, wooden floors for dancing until early morning, a lake to swim in, woods to walk in, and old and new friends to spend time with. Needless to say, it was the vacation from everything that was sorely needed in my life. And I didn't want to go home.





The surroundings were beautiful.


We arrived on Thursday afternoon, and one of the first things that happened was a great class with 8 different styles of blues in an hour, and then a discussion about DJ:ing for blues. So good. It's really good to spend time with fellow blues nerds. :)




Then I went for an evening walk. Because alone time. And abounding beauty.


Coming back to the bulding where we danced. The hostel where we lived was in a separate building a few hundred meters away, which was so perfect for a dance weekend like this. It saved so much time! Compare it to a dance event in London where everything takes at least an hour one way. And it can be hard to find (affordable) accommodation near the venue. Just the traveling to and from different venues can take up hours of your day. Which rarely means less dancing, but it does mean less sleeping. :) Here, there was no time spent traveling at all. And each time I forgot something I could just walk up to the hostel and get it (dance shoes, snacks, cardigan, whatever). It was so good.




Dance events with fika are better than other dance events.



And then Christoffer played.


And my last photo before bedtime: Sandra with her bowl of filmjölk. It's possible that I've never seen her this content. :)

* Fun language fact: I looked up whether "long weekend" is actual English or if I had just translated that from Swedish ("långhelg"). Turns out it is, and what's more: "Further, in many nations, when a lone holiday occurs on a Tuesday or a Thursday, the gap between that day and the weekend may also be designated as a holiday, or set to be a movable or floating holiday, or indeed work/school may be avoided by consensus unofficially. This is typically referred to by a phrase involving "bridge" in most languages." (from Wikipedia). Isn't it amazing that in "most" languages it's called something with bridge, while we call it klämdag? Squeeze day! I love Swedish!

More blues dance travels? See dance travel photography blogging: an archive.

Jonas Knutsson & Mathilde Renault | Berceuse Indienne