Trottorp Paradise-Kinnekulle Castle -LENE & EDWIN
Many times tango has fullfulled my childhood dreams or directly brought me to the fairy tale places that I used to read about in books. We are now in one of them: in the middle of the forest of Småland, in the middle of ASTRID LINDGREN's tale: a new tale that is being written just now, a wanderful screenplay that only life can write!
We can feel Astrid Lindgren' s spirit all the time- not only PIPPI LANGSTRUMPF , or the children of BULLERBYN, but the REAL PEOPLE we are meeting are coming from the fairy tale directly.
HERE IS our PIPPI LANGSTRUMPF alive: her name is LENE and she is not only beautiful and perfectly sensually red-haired, but she possesses the DIVINE CRAZINESS ( Locura Divina) and freshness of a teenage girl, which permits her to be such a versatile, spendid artist as she is. Of course she is a devoted tango dancer, but she is also a Eurithmia dancer, an actress, a singer ( chansons francaises) and ... a politician! She lives a life of Pippi Langstrumpf in her enchanged wooden house in the middle of the Småland forests. It's beautiful to see her acting Andersens's tales early in the morning, in her white, silk pigama agains the juicy green grass of her gardens- she is as ethereal as Shakespeare' s Ophelia! We can hear her shout and lower down her voice, we can se her fairy dance , barefeet on the grass, we can wake up to her laughter in the morning. SHE IS A QUEEN OF KINNECULLE, where we have arrived 6 days ago, but it feels like ages already.... The time has a different dimention here, the real time, city time does not exist here, in this forest fairy land, where you can encounter a moose or an elf ( yes!) And from the very first moment we are ame-seurs ( soul sisters), because , like Pippi Langstrumf, Lene has no real age- she is a young girl and a wise old women at the same time: SHE IS A REAL WITCH! Find out for yourself:
www.tangokalmar.se
www.lalene.se
We have had a long journey from one to the other side of Sweden: from the moment we left Helsigborg, where we held our last workshop Friday evening, in a car driven by our SUPER AGENT 007 INGER, where we said BYE BYE to the civilisation and were entering slowly in the gusts of the forests, driving for hours without passing any cars, but YES, the road signs with warning agains the possible encounter with a MOOSE, which, of course implies a danger to a car and the passengers... WE were slowly entering this fairy tale, and we had no doubt about being a part of it, when, directed by our castle keepers by mobile phone, we have finally reached our destination at 1 30 pm: a silhouete of EDWIN in his nightgown was contrasting against the lamp light: we were IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, in Hansel and Gretel's house, with a cat and a dog!Only in the morning could we appreciate the magic beauty of the spot: vast gardens surrounded by the forests, the attellier, little pond and plenty of sculptures scattered all around the place! We were in the ARTIST's WORLD!
EDWIN MATCHES ABSOLUTELY HIS artistic wife: but if she is a FIRE, he is WATER, equally strong, but different; if she is volcano errupting at any time- he is a tranquil river but with the potencial power to create a waterfall. EDWIN is the Dracula of the Castle: he is a chef de la cuisine, preparing such pictoresque breakfasts ( swedish-denish ones) that you feel like eating with your eyes even! He is the one cooking dinners and spoiling us with really gourmet dishes: from our requested salmon to.. asado! Always impecably presented and served, always attentive to his guest's needs.... while Lene is relaxed having a conversation or singing Dutch songs for us- with her adorable opera like soprano.
I adore to see men going around the kitchen, but Edwin makes it really like a dance! And so sexy with his apron!So, we let him spoil us, with his entrees, salmons, young potatoes, deserts and drinks ( already tasting Lapland!)- maybe it's really an enchanted house and a new version of Hansel and Gretel, but instead of the old ugly wich feeding us to eat us afterwards, we have a handsome Dracula, who is waiting for his TANGO BITE!?

But he is more than just a Dracula and a cook. Edwin is a recognized sculpturer and we can see it around- the whole garden is full of his art pieces. But our fascination has come to its high point when he showed us his real jewels: his SNOW AND ICE SCULPTURES! He does it in Sweden, but also travels to China, to Canada, Japan, Greenland creating the gigant, ephemeral pieces of art! On the other hand he makes FIRE SCULPTURES- making them out of hay and burning them afterwards! We are already thinking about a multi-media performance combining our tango dance with his light and fire happening, maybe even ice or snow! There are no limits to creativity!

http://www.sculpture.se/

One little example: Canelone snow sculpture build for Olimpic Games in Torino 2006- got a silver medal and a first artist's prince- GRAND EDWIN BÖCK!!!!
It will not be easy for us to leave our beautiful magic forest house, but it will not be long till we are back- Edwin and Lene are organizing tango camp in Ölland island and they want us to come with out tango again! And besides, from one fairy tale we will land in the other one- we say good bye to Astrid Lindgren country , but there is Hans Christian Andrersen waiting for us with his QUEEN of SNOW up there, in the northern part of the country, with the midnight sun. It is going to be a long jorney tomorrow...