I think the Danes must love Pitbull—and Disney throwbacks? While I’ve only had three weekends here, I’ve made my way through various bars and clubs in the heart of Copenhagen. I’m usually not much of a going out person, but I do love to dance. So, the music, though not what I would ordinarily listen to, has been a blast. There’s nothing like dancing full out to Hotel Room Service on a Friday night with new friends from my LLC.
Speaking of my LLC, these past 10 days have also been filled with a lot of activities with the Visual and Performing Arts LLCs! Last Saturday we went on a boat tour of the Nyhavn Canal. I definitely should have worn gloves and thicker socks (and maybe not washed my hair right before leaving), but it was a wonderful experience. I have always loved being on water and it was such a fun way to see more of the city. We saw museums, the Amger Bakke (an artificial ski hill built on top of a green power plant), and of course the famous pastel colored buildings. By the end of it, I was ready to press my whole body against my heater and hibernate till Spring, but it was worth the chill.
The next day, we had our LLC Jumpstart Event. The two art LLCs merged once again for brunch and ice breakers. Sophie, our wonderful LLC coordinator, brought vegan bread, butter, chocolate, and cinnamon rolls! We then headed over to the Gammel Strand to see their four exhibitions/installations “Women of Surrealism” by three female artists, “Food Chain Café” by Nina Beier, “Lady’s handbag” by Rose Ekens, and an installation by an artist duo Randi and Katrine. “Lady’s handbag” was definitely one of my favorites. It was fascinating to see such everyday things turned into art. I also really appreciated the focus on women artists. I definitely looked at "Food Chain Café" for the longest though. I've never seen anything quite like lion's covered in parasitic bread.
On Thursday, over the 30 of us from the arts LLCs squished into a bus to attend the aerial dance performance, “Myopic Time.” I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it did not disappoint. There was one dancer, Esther Wrobel; the composer, Camilla Barratt-Due; and Ariellah Winther working behind the setup with weights that allowed Esther to be in the air. At the beginning, Esther gives the audience a glimpse of what’s to come by scooping sand into a pulley mechanism that eventually drops, thereby lifting up the attached weight. This translates into a macrocosmic presentation with Esther as the weight. As the dance progressed and she got higher as a result of the increasing pulley weight, the music got lower. Camilla joined Esther on stage, gliding around the stage while playing the accordion, before sitting down to sing, control the music from her computer, and activate the amount of sand being poured into a giant glass arrow. Though there were set routes, most of the dance was improvised based on Esther’s energy level (though you’d never know it). In the artist’s talk afterwards, she explained her themes of bending reality, gravity, and the change of natural forces. She wanted to highlight the subjectivity of life and convey her own reality to the audience. Her dance forced the audience to question such quotidian occurrences such as gravity. I left the show with a heightened awareness of the world around me and feeling inspired to create art.
Tonight will be our first communal LLC meal since the beginning of DIS and next weekend, we are having our LLC weekend. I don’t really know what it entails, but I’m definitely excited as the events thus far have been a blast.
With Love,
Shelby
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