PITEA in Aishas FOTOS & FILMS

Workshops during the Piteå Tango Festival were a success. 10 of our students travelled here from Kiruna och Gällivare ( some 400 km), Luleå, Umeå, Skellefteå, Stockholm a
nd Finnland!

The organisation permited up to 12 couples in each group class. Here we have our Kiruna students who participated in all the worskhops.

But the festival special was the possibility to participate in semi-private worskhops during three days. Each of two groups ( intermediate and advanced) had only 3 couples eager to get more attention and more tango work. Here, nuestros pollitos: Kjell and Margareta, Trevor and Erica, Stig and Eva.
After the festival, Monday till Wednesday night, still eager students could take private classes. Suprisingly enough we kept busily working giving some 10 extra classes, mixed with bastu and dinner invitations ( reports below).
" Even though I have never been to a milonga in Buenos Aires, this is what I think it must be like" said Lalia, our tango student we have know for 5 years, but only now, on our welcome back dinner, we got to know her as an artist. A painter and a sculpturer. Victor fell in love with her art and got inspired to go back and create.
Welcome to Pitea dinner was a lovely surprise prepared by our students in the house of Laila and Bror. We been coming to Pitea for the last 5 years and they really become our family and friends. They know our tastes too: Bror prepared his speciality: moose meat. Combined with Elisabeth's plum marmelade it was our favourite sweet and souer combination.Catrin and Ake prepared the entreé: avocado filled with shrimps and smoked salmon. Laila prepared Victor's beloved cold cheesecake. We had hot hjotron to add to it. Wines and snaps were not missing and the Thursday dinner lasted till midnight. Fun, filosophical, spiritual and tango conversations were had.
On the first ground: our cherished tango student and cook Bror, tango inactive because of his plastered foot; he perfectly compensated being culinary and socially active. Jan brought him a reindeer's horn as a present. It is meant to be an afrodisiac, hopefully it will help him with quick recovery.
" Fumando espero", tango and cigar with Ake after the dinner under the norrland's skies.

It was a clear, stary night. We were looking for aurora borealis.
Our " norrländsk" home is traditionally a house in Bölebyn, by the tannery ( Garveri). We love this house by Piteå river. If felt like coming back home.
Bölebyn' s houses are all traditionally Swedish, painted red ( falu röd) with white decoration.
They look like dolls' houses. Picturesque and lovely situated on the river banks make a pleasant, peacefull view.
There are may glass houses situated right over the river. They are used to grill and have meals inside, even if outside it s too chilly or blowing.
We have something we enjoy a lot: a sauna situated on the river bank. Traditionally we have sauna after the workshop with our students and all of us jump to the river. NOT THIS TIME! Outside it s only a couple degrees above zero and only brave Swedes like Jan went from sauna to the river.
This glass house remebers us smoking and eating salmon here a good couple of times during the last 5 years...
The view from our balcony on the tannery and the river.
Victor and Jan, inside the tannery.
Jan showing us how he prints the company' s logo on the leather suitcases.
We were explained once again about the process of preparing reindeer skin to become a bag or a suitcase. First, a couple of months in the water with birch bark.
A photo of a tanner removing flesh from the skin.
Victor and Jan in front of containers with birch solution. 1,5 m deep

A rifle´s cover prepared for his Majesty the KING OF SWEDEN!


A tanner made into tanguero ( our Jan is the first on the left)

Yes, yes, these are the real prices! Jan says he needs money for his tango and trips to Buenos Aires.

Bölebyns garveri, the tannery, is an official provider for the Swedish Royal Family.
Opera " Maria de Buenos Aires", by camer orchestra from Piteå with Argentinean bandoneon player was such a peak of the tango festival this year in Pitea! In Swedish but with Argentinean emotions!After 3 months of touring in Europe it made us very nostalgic...

During the workshops- men have to train more...

There is nothing better to relax inbetween the tango workshops than a good gammla dans. Aisha is dancing schottis for the first time in her life! Bengt from Luleå, Goran from Kiruna and Stig from Piteå are good and patient teachers.

Finally the farewell dinner party arrived. Too quickly and unexpectedly. Britt made her bast to make the evening unforgettable in her 160 year old house. Evening's menu: soppa pa norrlandsvist and gravad alg. Bjorksnaps and zafransnaps.

TO BE REPEATED NEXT YEAR!

AURORA BOREALIS in LAPPLAND!

WE are ALREADY VERY LUCKY TO BE HERE, in the south of Lappland and we are even LUCKIER BECAUSE OF THE SUN ACTIVITY IN THIS PERIOD WOULD POSSIBLE GIVE US A SPECTALE- AURORA BOREALIS!
We were priviledged to be invited by our tango student, Brittmarie,
to the PLANETARIUM in the TEKNIK HUS in Luleå to see the simulation of aurora borealis as well as the projection of pictures of Patricia Cowern ( an English woman who moved to live in Lappland´s little villege and fell in love with the northern lights, photographing and filming it):

http://www.arctic-color.com/galleri/index.html

FROM NOW ON WE ARE PATIENTLY WAITING FOR THE NATURE TO POSSIBLE GIVE US THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE...

Luleå,en del av Lappland på Aishas bilder

The day we arrived to Lulea ( a night train from Solleftea, Langsele 3 :28, delayed 50 min, very UNDSWEDISH, coming to Lulea 12 :20) FACEBOOK decided to move its headquarters there with all the servers! The news was a headline of the day. Therefore: we came to Lulea with facebook!
Still exceptionally warm and sunny autumn days made possible some excursions to the nature and special places,like OLD TOWN ( gammla stan and kyrkostaden), situated 12 km from Lulea. The uplifting of the land was the reason of moving the town with its harbour to a new place.

Absolutely impressive to see the rows of those red painted small cottages around the church. This unique phenomenon was due to the distances in the north- only the church holidays were bringing people together- sleeping in their cottages and attending the services in the church.Now, the whole area of " churchtown" is protected as a Unesco world cultural heritage.

Picturesque as it looks, the transition time, just before the first snow, was a termic shock for our bodies: the wind was blowing and the temperature was just above zero! For the first time we could feel our noses, ears, our faces and hands!The only consolation was hot chocolate waiting for us inside!

That's where we saw our first ice: frozen water on the ground. The first signs of the coming winter!

I was amazed by the artistic beauty of the picture. Dead leaves frozen into the surfice of the water made it into immortalized union of autumn and winter.

Another excursion we were taken by Pia & Fernando was Ormberget. It was my special request to see the view of the town from the hill above ( serpent hill), as I remember it in its summer beauty last year. See:

http://aishayvictorchamuyos.blogspot.com/2010/05/luleaa-norbotten-sverige.html#comments

Pia looked great in her red robe agains the greens and yellows of the trees. She was freezing too- not only the cars have to change the tyres for winter tyres!

The view from Ormberget, close up.

The view from Ormberget: the arms of the Baltic sea getting into the land, creating vijks and islands. As we are far in the north, most of the trees are evergreen. Infrequent birches make yellow flames agains the green background.

Another beautiful winter surprise we got in Lulea was the frost-covered plants!

Tiny icicles on the edges of each plant make them look magical.

Cold days are excellent for indoor activities. Swedish give us example of being busy and enganged in many activities. We used many hours for visiting museums.

Victor and Fernando contemplate the vastness of Lappland in Norrbotens museum.

Kulturens Hus is Lulea is a very impressive, modern building by the port. It contains theatre,art galeries and city library. On the event board of the theatre we found our poster. Tipical artists vanity made us take this photo.

Here goes argentinean tango among flamenco and world music festival.

Finally the busy tango weekend. Workhops, organized by ABF with coordination of alma mater de tango in Lulea, Pia and Fernando, took place in a huge, mirror-covered dance room.

Good dance floor and very nice, enthusiatic, disciplined, applied students is all we need for succesful workshops.

One of the dance groups: 10 am Saturday! Besides, sunny Saturday morning, if you know the value the sun has up here in Sweden. Tango crazy! Many of our last year students and " old tango familiy" from other places around: Skelleftea, Pitea etc.

Saturday evening, after the workshops, we had another experience. Our tango student, Helena, invited us to Norrbotens theatre, for a musical " Forever young " ( Evigt ung). We left moved and impressed- we have not expected such production in a small town like Lulea. The piece should be displayed in the big capitals of the world, including Buenos Aires, in our Broadway. The universal content and it s impecalbe production left us breathless. Thank you, Helen!

But a tango dancer does not only live on tango and art! WE NEED OUR SALMON! Our thoughts and petitions were inmediated cought by our excellent host and cook, Pia. In spite of that we were out of season, she arranged a BIG PIECE OF SALMON to celebrate the succesful workshops and our second visit in Lulea. Notice the size of the salmon, arranged diagonally on a pan, agains size of the cooker.

Pia is also a magician: the makes a special ambience with candles and table decoration. Salmon covered with vesterbottensost was a delicacy! A couple of bottles of wine and we were the happies people in the world. Best food, best company! Pitty it happens once a year. But at least it last a week...

With our chilenean host and organizer Fernando. Argentinean-chilenean fraternity.

Fernando, apart from dancing tango, is a writer,a journalist, a poet, a photographer, actively involved in cultural and political life. One of the few idealist I have ever met. After 37 years in Sweden, NORTH of Sweden, he is more Chilenean that Chileneans.

A note about Swedish hospitality: apart from that it is not usual and pretty difficult to get invited to people' s houses, once they do it, it is done with all the heart.

Stefan, inviting us for " some coffe or beer", displayed a table with all the Swedish delicacies including smoked salmon, tunnbrod, kotbullar ...and renat. A complete dinner!

Not end of surprises. As our wish, expressed aloud on various occasions, was to see snow and aurora borealis, another of our tango students, Britt-Ann, working in Teknikens Huset, invited us for a simulation of aurora borealis in Planetarium ( see the video in the next chapter) Not only we saw what this incredible phenomena is like, but we were explained the astrology of the Sami and could spend hours visiting this most impressive interactive museum. Without going to Arctica, we could feel the temperatures of the expedition stations there, the activity of the ice breakers, we went down to the mine, we understood the black wholes and could operate a crane lifting timber, produce our peper and experiment with air baloon.Hard to belive that we are in Lulea, some 1 300 km north of Stockholm.

Salmon at Pia and Fernando's . Long live the frendship!