A story about how art can heal and a note on how to always be at the right place at the right time. How the full time travel life makes us confront all that is needed, so we can grow and flow.
Af Cecilie Felumb Conrad | August 9, 2019
When we arrived to Elsinore – in Danish Helsingør – I was somewhat broken. I had touched some old dynamics from my early life, and it was sticky. Do you know this feeling? I have my story, and I find parts of it private – not to me personally but to all the other people involved. With no details, I can share, I have som dysfunctional dynamics and fears established early in life. When I was a child, I decided to not let this define my life, find a way out of it, no matter what. It is a long story.
We all have a background.
When we arrived to Elsinore, the sun was shining. Elsinore is a city by the coast, and the sky is always very open, there is a lot of light. The old castle, Shakespeare chose as a setting for the story of Hamlet is a beautiful one, and we have close friends and beloved family in the city.
When we arrived to Elsinore, a wonderful festival was in process: The Passage festival. It is a street theater festival, and it is amazing. We arrived one late evening, to stay with friends, who came back from 2 weeks of backpacking in Greece that same night. Alexander, our friend, told us about the festival, and the feeling of being at the right place at the right time re-entered the scene.
This is an interesting one. How can you know, you are at the right place at the right time? The simple answer is: I just know. Sometimes we fall off the wagon and have to pull all of our energies and focus together to get back on the right foot. Sometimes, we forget to listen, to align, to be awake.
Living the full time travel life makes it impossible to fall off for longer periods. We have to be awake. And if we are not, something wakes us up.
It is not magic, yet is the little things. Living with few plans and using the heart as GPS, we focus on what life presents in whatever context, we find ourselves in. It is not logic, but it is not hocus pocus either.
If we open our senses, and listen to the people and places, there is always a clear path.
Elsinore with the Passage Festival was the answer to our – my – prayers for art.
For days, I had been craving art. To me, art is like sunlight and coffee, except, I can go longer without. Our 3 days in Elsinore were packed with art.
We enjoyed King Lear in a poetic and humorous puppet theatre mixed with traditional theatre. The music was perfect, the sun was shining, the light was right and the story of King Lear is crazy.
Cuerdo is a one man show. Senor Set from Spain is hard to describe. He is a clown and a balancing actor, yet first of all an artist. His show consisted of himself and lots of rope, some mousetraps, a few bells, a huge bag and both skill and acting. But first of all he had presence, and the way he interacted with birds flying by and things happening in the audience, made us all part of the show. We felt our own presence, our on existence, if I may.
It is hard to describe. A bit scarry, a bit funny, it made us think. And feel. Cuerdos show is a great example of how art can put you into the moment. When art creates a room somewhere between the real and the surreal, and drags us into the piece, I feel the healing powers clearly. It is excactly this. There is a reality, but it is so much more than the physical, and art opens all the other levels, making the surreal normal, making me normal, makes me feel, we share the nuances, the sub-real, the vibrations, the bending of reality, that is still real.
It is hard to describe. A bit scarry, a bit funny, it made us think. And feel. Cuerdos show is a great example of how art can put you into the moment. When art creates a room somewhere between the real and the surreal, and drags us into the piece, I feel the healing powers clearly. It is excactly this. There is a reality, but it is so much more than the physical, and art opens all the other levels, making the surreal normal, making me normal, makes me feel, we share the nuances, the sub-real, the vibrations, the bending of reality, that is still real.
The Romeo and Juliet interpretation in the garden of the old monastery in Elsinore, was one of the best I have ever experienced. The classic story was told in less than 2 minutes in the beginning, followed by 24 different scenes, showing how love can unfold in different ways, beautiful, aquard, violent, sad, abusive, stupid, erotic – all ending with the death scene, all full of references to and lines from the old Shakespear play. We left the monastery full of hope, full of love, smiling.
A two person play called “Wanted” with french artists was most of all amazingly well done. The timing between the one person doing the sound effects, and the other doing the acting was astonishing. The acting itself, done mostly by one person was extraordinary. It was a play with all the classic element from a werstern: The sherif, the bandit, the bank, the saloon, the beautiful woman. Made us smile with recognition, made us laugh – a lot. Yet as an extra layer, there was the story about the two actors, another level of the play, making it all very interesting and sad, somehow a Romeo and Juliet story on top of the werstern movie thing.
Leaving this show was like getting out of the ocean a clear day: Happy, fresh, grounded. Oh, the powers of art!
Elsinore is full of light. To us it is exactly this: Shakespeare and friends. The Nordic Nights full of light spend with friends in a garden left little room for sleeping. What amazing time spend talking, jumping the trampoline, playing board games, knitting, breathing.
Confronted with the lack of time, we have to choose. Choose harder. In reality, we all have to choose, but the rythm of everyday life sometimes makes us forget so. Our travels makes us awake, and clear on this point: We have to choose what to do all the time, and if we are clear on our values, we can choose easily.
When we use our emotions as guidance system, the feelings of being owerwhelmed or tired or insecure are clear signals. We have to stop, and get to the inner balance, in order to be able to find our way. When this happens there are two main options. Either we are off track, or we are about to learn something important, something evolving.
All the different locations and people confront os with this reality. At the moment our values are in place, but we still struggle with accepting the life without plan and prospect. Where are we going and what is the plan?
We do not know. And we work on the huge life lesson: To have patience. Enough patience. To be able to wait until the answer is clear.
Do we dare this? Do you?
To us, 3 days in Elsinore was exactly this: Shakespeare and friends. The deep art experience, the healing powers of the theatres we saw, the clear blue sky, the architecture of the old city and the castle. Plus the friends. We stayed with beloved friends and my soul sister Tamiko from my teenage years came to us one of the days and enjoyed Romeo and Juliet with us, amazingly exactly the play we read together when we were only 15 yeras old.
Walking through the city all together, meeting the little mermaid mirror statue male verson, very shiny, very Instagram friendly – yet somehow interesting and meeting the plastic comment: a huge fish of trash right there on the harbour in the context of Kronborg – while connecting deeply with amazing people, we have known for decades, breathing fresh air. What else can you want for a weekend?
So many circels closed, and new perspectives opened. So many layers of life coming together.
So grateful we are. Again.
When we left Elsinore, art and friendship and light had healed old wounds, and sparked new inspiration, and we were so ready for the next adventure.
I share our adventures and reflections, because I want to inspire and share. Please let me know, what this made you think or do or feel.
Peace and love
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