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Restless Creature and Wendy Whelan

Fanny Sura25 June, 201725 June, 2017Leave a comment

On Saturday, we went to see a film at the Avon Theater here in Stamford. A documentary, Restless Creature, about Wendy Whelan. She was a principal ballerina with the New York City Ballet for 30 years. The film is about when she had found herself injured in the hip and had to do a surgery. She has been dancing her whole life and had been very lucky to never have any bigger problems with her body before. She is a strong and beautiful dancer. After the surgery she eventually made a decision that she wanted to retire from NYC Ballet, after her 30 years in the company and she did a farewell performance. She was also working on some contemporary works with four male choreographers and together created the Restless Creature performance.

After the film, Wendy Whelan herself showed up for an Q/A with the audience. When that was done, some of the younger ballerinas in Stamford wanted to take pictures with her. We left to get coffee. On our way back home, we walked passed the theater and saw that she was standing there. I quickly walked up to her, got to talk to her and take a photo before she had to go. Starstruck! I didn’t know who she was until a few years ago when she was performing with those male choreographers (one of the choreographers is a guy I have taken classes for and I have worked with someone in his company). But now when I know who she is and know more about her work, it felt like I was walking up to a celebrity:)

Later in the afternoon, my husband and I walked to Harbor Point. It took us about 30 minutes. We wanted to find a place by the ocean to have a drink. That area is far from being done. Very industrial and they are building tons of new apartment buildings. We looked at some apartments there in December but we are so happy we found a place somewhere else. We sat down at two places before we took the trolley back to the city center. We finished the evening with grilled food and the movie Hairspray. A pretty awesome day!

In Meditation, Yoga

Midsummer yoga and meditation

Fanny Sura25 June, 201725 June, 2017Leave a comment

The last photo was taken by the teacher, Megan Young. Me in white:)

My Midsummer’s Eve was amazing! I went to the yoga/meditation workshop, Fierce Gentleness, and it was exactly what I needed that day.

The class was a restorative yoga class with sound baths and a longer meditation in the end. I ended up in the front, right by the sound bowls. I like to be in the front, cause then I don’t have to look at what everybody else is doing. I go to class for my own sake and want to focus on myself. It didn’t really matter for this class though since we were facing all directions, but it was nice to be near the sounds.

The first twist poses was weird for me though. I can usually relax pretty well on the bolsters and I love twists. On the first side I noticed that my breathing was quicker, I was almost panting which I thought was odd. Was I really that uncomfortable in the twist and tight in my muscles around the spine? The second side felt amazing at first. On the first side she had used tuning forks to create music the whole time, but on the second side she started off with a dark sound bowl before the tune forks. It was a weird switch that happened in my body. Long inhale/exhales, very comfy when listening to the dark bowl sound and then immediately when the tune forks started my breathing got shorter and felt stuck again. What’s up with that?

During the next restorative pose she played music from the bowls and I was really relaxed (see the borrowed picture above). Every single muscle was relaxed and the sadness I had felt during the day over not celebrating Midsummer was long gone. We finished off with another restorative pose and she guided us through a yoga nidra (“Yoga Nidra is among the deepest possible states of relaxation while still maintaining full consciousness“). Now I was really relaxed. A lot of feelings bubbled up too.

After the class, I met my husband at a bar across the street. Together we walked to an Irish pub for some late night food. No Swedish food and no dancing around a maypole but it turned out to be a perfect evening!

In Swedish in America

Today is Midsummer

Fanny Sura23 June, 2017Leave a comment

Photo from 2013, Midsummer on Manhattan.
I think this failed photo shows exactly what Midsummer is:)

I’ve heard that there is a lot of Scandinavians in Connecticut, so I wanted to check if there is a Midsummer celebration around here. My husband is working all day, so my plan was to prepare food and make a flower wreath headband during the day and when J comes home we could either go to a possible Midsummer celebration somewhere or just celebrate at home on our terrace with good Swedish food and listen to old Swedish music.

The yoga studio I go to offered me a free workshop because of the whole “no morning yoga” thing (on May 17th). I saw a few days ago that the class is 7:15 PM, not AM like I thought. An early morning yoga workshop seemed like a nice way to start the celebration of light, but apparently it’s in the evening. So, that will be my celebration this year.

At first I got sad and I considered to skip the workshop. But, I really want to do the workshop plus celebrating here doesn’t feel the same as in celebrating in Sweden. A celebration with Swedish people I don’t know in a Swe-US way or a celebration with my husband who has never experienced it in Sweden, won’t actually give me much. It’s not the same. The sun goes down at 9pm here. The whole point of Midsummer is to honor the light and the best thing about it is that the sun doesn’t really go down.

This is my 7th Midsummer away from Sweden. Some years I have been busy with other stuff and not celebrated. Midsummer is a tradition I really love, it’s special, but I live in the US now and celebrating it here would never be the same. It’s ok. Although, it’s the only day of the year that I can feel really Swedish, but whatever.

Glad Midsommar!

In Meditation

Meditation night

Fanny Sura22 June, 201722 June, 2017Leave a comment

On Tuesday, we were a few neighbors who gathered for a meditation night again. An hour of talking and then a short meditation with focus on the heart. We will try to do this every other week. I think this is a nice thing to do in a building. You meet neighbors in a different way. It can be scary to share things about yourself, but maybe that’s what we need to practice. Maybe opening up in front of others can help to open up to ourselves. It’s important to check in with ourselves sometimes. Even if there’s nothing that we are working on, if everything is awesome, it’s still good to take a moment and declutter our minds. We all have a lot of thoughts and feelings, and sharing experiences and stories with others might help them see something in themselves and vise versa. Don’t you think?

Right before we left, I got to pick a tarot card. Goddesses on the cards this time. I thought about a question and picked a card that first scared the crap out of me. Ostara > fertility. Aaaahh!! What?! But, then I read the card and calmed down:) “It is the perfect time for you to start new projects, access new ideas, and give birth to new conditions.” Well, new ideas and projects sounds awesome! Cause there will be no babies (except for plant babies, which I have started to get in my pots)!

In Dance

Alvin Ailey

Fanny Sura18 June, 201718 June, 2017Leave a comment

On Friday, I took the train to Manhattan and met Emma at Grand Central. We walked over to Rockefeller Plaza, I wanted to see the big balloon ballerina by Jeff Koons. And then, we had dinner at Bar Bacon in Hell’s Kitchen. We haven’t spent time together since January and a lot have happened for the both of us. So nice to catch up with my friend.

At 8 it was time to see Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at Lincoln Center. I’ve never seen them on stage before so I was excited. The first out of three pieces was “Deep”. Lots of wonderful movements, I really enjoyed it. I did not care that much about the music though, part because it didn’t fit with what they were doing.

The second piece, “Walking Mad”, was by Swedish Johan Inger, one of my favorite choreographers. I loved every second of it. It had an odd shift in feeling though. If it had been a full evening length piece instead of 25 minutes, maybe it had made more sense. It started off with laughter from the audience and ended extremely sad. But it was still great. And “Bolero” is music I enjoy.

The third piece, “Revelations”, made me feel like I was in church the whole time. E had seen it once before. I liked the dance and the music was good. The last dance was super happy and got the audience in a good mood. After the applause they did the last dance again. E and I left when the second applause started. I wasn’t gonna make it to the train though, so we went for a walk down to the Times Square area. So. Much. People! Once we had left that area I got the same feeling of the city that I had my first summer in NYC. I love walking down Fifth Ave at night.

I was back in Stamford after midnight and luckily my husband came to picked me up so I didn’t have to walk home. After an awesome afternoon/night in the city with Emma, I slept like a little baby:)