Thursday, December 17, 2009

THE MOVE 8!

The Move 8 Merry Christmas everyone! Have you been good this year? I know I have tried to. And that is all that matters, right? The though… I mean if my plan was to play with a dog, but I ended up kicking a hedgehog, you should focus on the thaught: ”playing with dog”. Right? Other nice things I have done is washing ALL our laundry. The fact that I only do that like ones a year does´nt matter. Mattias is the one who usually does our laundry (and I clean the house! Every three months…) but he has been busy working with Singing in the rain again (they have their new premiere on february 4th) so then I washed 6 loads of clothes! So again: Focus on ”Hanna washed 6 loads” and not ”once a year”. Do you get my christmas-strategy? Act nice and your sock will be full of goodies, and if you are too honest your sock will be filled with dirty laundry and hedgehog-poo. We are busy-bees like always; we have been in germany, france, and germany again, and we did a performance at Cirkus (next to Skansen) in Stockholm. The show was great and Harlem hot shots was in it and the FABOLOUS trio from Singing in the rain (Hanna, Kalle and Rennie) and also the popular boy-band E.M.D. Germany was great as always. We spent a lot of time with our sweeaty ;) sweetie friends Ester and Bernd and they taught us to play bridge. And France was a great event and we stayed in a supernice hotel and ate the best frensh food you can imagine. Je t'aime gateau!! I have tell you about our round-the-world-journey to stockholm: First 10 hours sydney-bangkok, then 12 hours bangkok-frankfurt, THEN a 6 hour transfer and a small 2 hour-flight to stockholm. Mjau. We have had supergreat hosts this trip, NO complaints at all, but there is just nothing that compares to sinking into your own bed or sofa and just talk to mattias or read a book or watching a movie. A superfun thing about coming home is offcourse cathing up with friends! Me and malin made the streets of stockholm a bit less secure and went to my friend Johans concert (the Soulband- they are so good and has an awesome horn-section). I love lindy hop and the social events and I have had a lot off really good dances during all our trips, but sometimes I need a Saturday where noone will spin me rytmicly at the same time as I´m having my fourth tequila (which only happened once this trip, but still): it is a dangerous mix. In christchurch our friends Tom and Amanda gave us some deliscious brew that almost tasty healthy, don´t remember the name though (hmm, my memory is always short when in contact with tequila, hmm). We are doing a very stress-relieving thing with gifts this year in our family. It makes a lot of sense because we are about 14 people(and then I did not even count my sister Sofias baby) celebrating together. So what we do it that we write everyones names on a piece of paper, throw that in a bowl (I guess it should be a hat, but who cares, right) and then we all draw a name and that is the one we buy something for. And the spending limit is around 40 euros. Great is´nt it? So use my stressfree tricks: 1. Don´t buy soooo many gifts! Even though real love is expressed with expensive gifts ;), it is more important to just spend time together. 2. Alter the truth when it comes to good deeds. Learn to focus on the important parts like ”Hanna plays with dogs and also washed 6 loads” and such. 3. If nothing else works; make yourself a cup of tea and turn off your phone and computer, curl up in a sofa, and just eat a BIG load of chocolate. Happy holidays and give someone a hug today! /Hanna "the tequila-queen" foam-banana and Mat-tiger Lundmark

Friday, November 20, 2009

THE MOVE 7!

The move 7 Animal encounters and time-travel I will not start with complaining about how hard it is to travel around the world and dance, oh buhu poor me, NO I will just say that there are some downsides too. First of all I have been pee:ed and poo:ed on. Luckely it was just a cat (peeing in my suitcase in Germany) and a little bird (on my shoulder and leg when I was reading in the sun in New zealand). But lets just say I ”got even” with animals in general: you can ask me if you want the full story and it contains a hedgehog, a ball, a kick and and a missunderstanding. Other bad things about travel is time zones. Why can´t we just have one time all around the world? Oh buhu ”but then some countries will have dark days and bright nights”! Oh buhu: WELCOME TO SWEDEN!! That is what we have to deal with half the year anyway, so whats the problem?! I am a bit frustrated because we travelled from NZ (12 hours ”off” from sweden) and then to perth (-5 hours) and then now we´re in sydney (+3 hours). So when we arrived at 7 pm (sydney-time) I felt hungry for lunch, but had dinner and when we went to bed at midnight I fell asleep around 3 am (obviously, who can sleep before 1 am? (except mr Znorry Lundmark who can sleep at any hour of the day (even after drinking coffee!))). But I at least set an alarm for 10.30am because we were supposed to be picked up at noon to go for some sightseeing. Ususally Mattias always gets up before me but this morning he just would not wake up and even though I was so tired I stressed around making breakfast and getting ready. When my clock was 11.50am Mattias was still sitting, undressed, eating breakfast. So I put my shoes on and gave him the ”oh-you´re-gonna-be-in-trouble-cause-you´re-soooo-late”-look and he just smiles back. So I said out loud what my look previoulsy said, and he answers: ”but it is just 10.50, my little stressed sweetie?” Grrrrr. I hate time-zones. The great day continued in the same feeling when our friend who was taking us out accidently locked our door without having the right key. So we had to get a locksmith. But after that the ”dancer-around-the-world”-life got better; we had the best carrotcake ever for lunch and fresh mangos and went to bondi-beach and slept in the sun and swam in cristall-blue water. And I walked across harbour bridge! Together with 3 lindy-friends I walked/climbed over a 140 meters high steel-arc, looking over the entire city and offcourse the astonishing opera-house, where me and Mattias had a ice-cold beer-spritzer in the sun. So life is still ok I guess. I saw my family, via skype- the best invention ever!, and it was great. Thank you my sweet family for being there for us. For you who wonders about my dad and nephew are both doing fine. My dad is still recovering and my sisters son has a thing around his neck that is blue and metallic and it makes him look a bit like a cute transformers. For Erik I have message-hugs from Tara, from Perth, and to Jonas Nermyr she says: ”you are a terrible best friend” (he would understand she said). We look forward to learn more about the sydney swing-scene soon and we´re going out dancing every night starting Thursday!! Love the life you live and live the life you love! /Hannabanana

Monday, November 2, 2009

THE MOVE 6!

The move 6 Hello world! Finally some time to share my thaughts and adventures with you. We have moved our bodies to new zealand which is the second prettiest country in the world (after sweden, which I hold as nr 1 just to be loyal I think, it is not so great with all the cold and dark, and then when it´s finally summer it just rains and lots of mosqitos that bite) and also is great for adventures, new zealand, not sweden. We have been in christchurch (again) and walked through (again) ”cave-stream”, which is a 2 km pitch-dark cave that has waterfalls and eels inside it. It was freezin and we wore wet-suits (which there is very funny footage from, I will put some on the homepage…soon… I promise). Really. ;) It’s just something with wet-suits that makes me feel like a big baby mixed with the michelin-man and a turtle without its shell. Then we taught some classes and did a show with our teacher-friends, Shane and Ruth (they are awesome!!) and we will be with them in perth so we can do the act once more! So come by if you´re in the neighbourhood. We been 3 days in queenstown and luckely the weather was just bad enough to not go skydiving, but perfect for a visit to crazy-beutiful Lake tekapo (it is pronounced ”take-a-poo”) and we did whitewater-rafting. It is really fun and we got to wear those flattering wet-suits again. And me and Shane went up on a mountain in cabin/gondolas and the view was breath-taking. New zealand is so amazing with the mix of sunlight, turquoise, green hills and skyhigh mountains drapes in snow. It is magical and you kind of expect Frodo and Gandalf to come strolling down a hill. Mattias is a big fan and we also visited some places where they shot the ring-movies. He was VERY excited. At one point he and Shane pretended to have horses and they galopped around on a field, fighting (pretending to have swords) and they made me film them. Will try to put it on facebook later when he is sleeping. Before this trip we been to norway and it was supernice. They have a small and very friendly scene there. And I were in denmark and saw Wallmans (they are just phenomal and a pleasure to see) and we helped them with some lindy-stuf for their christmas-act, so go and see them all you lindyhoppers of the world. Mattis came late because he had a little thing to do in london. It was just a little tap-performance in ”strictly come dancing” with only about 10 million(!!!!!!!) viewers. He and a british dancer called Dougie Mills (from Tap dogs) did a Nicholas Brothes-tribute and our friend Ryan Francois choreographed it and we will put it on the homepage so you can all see how fantastic they are. We also spent a week with our good friends Bernt and Ester in Cologne, Germany. We were suppose to just relax and then teach in the weekend. I was a bit sad to leave my family (there is a lot going on now because both my father and my sisters son are having surgery and that is always a big deal, so I would have wanted to be with them) so leaving and knowing I won´t see them in 7 weeks was hard. But then, like a miracle, my mum(!) shows up in Cologne!! My eyes popped out from my head and I am still in chock that my bla-bla-bladder-mouth family succeeded in keeping it a secret since july! Ester stayed with us then and she and mum made these plans without telling me! It was great! My mum really is the best. She is both my fun best friend and also a rock to hold on to in any storm. My whole family is great; I miss you all!!! The fligth here was 26(!) hours. I don´t like thai airways anymore because the first plane was from the 70-ies and did not even have individual tv-screens! And even worse: No entertainment system!! And when I thought ”this just can´t get worse”, we find out that during this 10-hour-flight, they are showing only ONE movie!! Grrr! We had a 7 hour transfer in Bangkok and the food was fantastic and a one hour massage was 12 euro! Thats is defenetly my next vacation-goal. We been a bit cultural aswell. I saw Cats (where my friend Elin was one of the brightest shining stars) and Elvis (where elin and my friend, Martin was one of the stars, also shining brightly) and we been to the cinema to see Michael Jackson one last time. He really is one of the greatest stars of all time and it easy to forget because of how he is presented in the media. But when you see ”this is it” you forget about the weird stuff and it is so clear that he is a genius and one of a kind. I feel very inspired after seeing it and just wanna go and practise. I actually took a 3 hour-class in african dancing and it is always so rewarding to teach your body new things. Take care of eachother and yourselfes and lets all carpe diem and learn something new every day. Knus and puss/ Hannabanana and Mattias Baggins

Thursday, September 17, 2009

THE MOVE 5!

The move 5 So the world and all its irony has again had its way with us. We just went to Tunisisa for a week of sun and such. But what happends; Tunisia only has about three days a year of thunder and rain and we timed them perfectly. And they also had their month of ramadan right now, so all lunchplaces were closed and in the night the restaurants closed between 6.30- 20.30pm. Most of the times they had ran out of food aswell. But we met a nice swedish couple that we spent a lot of time with. And one of the sunny days we went to Sahara and did a camel-ride and we also visited a movie-set from star wars and Mattias was like a baby-cow running in the grass first time after winter ( and when I think about it, they are about the same size too). We have done the last show with rhapsody and it was really fun and special. In the last gig a very famous swedish singer, Carola, performed ”Johnny be good” and she wanted some more action in her act. So mattias and I got to dalhalla (the worlds most beautiful stage in a mine with magic crystal-green water around it!) and I went to our dressingroom and mattias went to the stage. When I came out about 5 minutes after him, I see him throwing Carola in the air!! And I think there might be a special law in sweden that send you to prison if you just break a hair on carolas head. She is one of swedens most famous people, and mattias is juggling her in the air!! I felt panic for a few seconds (especially when I saw her shoes (as she flew past me) that had 11 cm:s heel!) but mattias looked calm and it all ended well and in the show it all was a big success. On Friday I will go to gothemburg for cuddling my westcoast-family (some sisters and their kids and better halfs) and also attend an audition. I am a bit nervous because I have to prepare 6 songs (yes, you read it correct: 6!!) . And again the irony; two of them are in german and then one of them is in italian. And not only to sing in italian (oh, the irony) it is an opera-song. Mjau. Yesterday we had a crayfish-party in our appartment. About 20 people were here and for those who don’t konw about crayfish, they are tasty shellfish but STINK like H**L if just one little claw is left behind a curtain, or under a chair or something. And the irony; we have ordered a quite expensive corner-sofa (I know, it i fascinating, you can read more about it ”the move 4”) and we have been waiting about 7 weeks for it. And on the morning of the stinky-crayfish party, they call us up and say that today is the day! So I covered the whole sofa in plastic and double-layered blankets and some towels. Yes, you are right: I am getting OLD! But the sofa looks very good and does not stink from crayfish, so irony did not get me this time. After Gothemburg we go to stavanger,norway, and Copenhagen, denmark, before we take another lap around the globe. (And it is not Mattias lap I am travelling around even though his thighs are huge, it is actually one more round-the-world trip.) We will update our calender soon. Well, love and peace and C U! /Hanna and Mattias Skywalker

Monday, August 10, 2009

THE MOVE 4!

The move 4 So the colorfull, exploding, fantastic, roaring, exhaustive and lovely herräng dance camp has come to an end. The spirit of the camp moves to the dancestudio ”Chicago” at hornsgatan 75. Even though it is the home of happy feet, I can not stop feeling quite releaved that it is over. All the dancing, talking, teaching and training that is my everyday-life in herräng is tough. It is great to spend a lot of time with my family, and I am blessed with a large family; mum, dad, four sisters, one brother, grandma and grandpa. But if you imagine having just a small 5 minute conversation, every day of one week, with each person in my family, it fast turns into over five hours of babling. And I haven´t even mentioned my husband to be and his family or all my sisters boyfriends (they just have one each, just to be clear). If someone would pay me I could make it a job to just socialize with my family. If anyone has ideas how to make them pay me, let me know. We have a week off right now and then we are doing two shows at Skansen in stockholm with Rhapsody in rock. It was originally planned to be at kastellet in vaxholm but then my family bought tickets… On Wednesday the 19th of august we will go and see wallmans new dinnershow " Kapow! " and we will perform on thursdaynight at Vega in copenhagen. So enough of the glamorous part of my life. Here comes the more important stuff: We bought a corner sofa!! It is very deep dark brown, luxurious, very cozy and (unfortunately) very expensive sofa (so no more dirty . We are also buying a tv (100 hertz, bla bla LCD (or did he say I have OCD?) and 42” bla bla), and a new carpet and lots of more adultpoints-creating stuff. We got a lot of points helping mattias mum putting in click parquet flooring. The name of the brand is ”click”-floor, but I think a more accurate name would be ”loud bang and crash”-floor. My ears are still ringing from the hammering and beating to get that freakin floor in. It is great to be back home in stockholm. I have met up with a lot of friends and even had time to hear a Salem al Fakir concert at mosebacke. Check out our homepage to see our travelling schedule. Take care and C U! /Hanna

Friday, July 17, 2009

THE MOVE 3!

The move 3 Hej world! The moving around is quite extreme right now; we are on tour. We just finished a 3-day show in Dalhalla (and if you wanna get an arabic wibe to it you can prenounce it dal-ah-ha-allah) and before that we were in Falkenberg to rehearse and we actually had a one night stop on Bagarmossen (baker´s bog). We are going to herräng tomorrow and the week after that we are heading back to Copenhagen. We have missed everyone SOO much, so we are very excited to come back for a little visit. Mattias is doing a choreography for Wallmans and I will cheer him on and also I have a very busy ”hugging”-schedule. So far the show has been nothing but breath-taking (not only because we do the fastest, most difficult choreography ever! I am not joking; every night after our third number Mattias makes a small pool of sweat in our dressingroom and I have a blood-taste in my mouth, we are hardcore), but also because have had between 4000-6500 in the audience every night, and both some from our families and friends that has come to see it. The sound of thousands of people that scream and clap their hands is thrilling. The stars of the show (other then us ;) ) are so great and charismatic and also really funny and nice to spend time with. To just name a few (we are about 50 people in the cast) we have Glenn Hughes (former member of Deep purple), Albert Lee (legend for guitarplayers and also new lots about Frankie Manning), Lagaylia Frasier, Nina Söderqvist (west end star), Jörgen Mörnbäck (who is extra special to us because he loves old swing-music (he is a comedian and drummer and loves Gene Krupa. And he can not wait to come to herräng next year!) and also Jacob Samuel (the poodles, who has four kids and a supernice wife and he is the sweetest father I have ever seen). Every night we hang out at the hotel or a local club and in the day we eat and sleep. The show starts at 8 pm and goes til about 10.30 pm. The second act of the show covers such and amazing spectra of music. It starts with a Count Basie medley (with me and Mattias rocking it out) and the act ends with and ac/dc-medley and there is a 70 minute magical music-journey in between. At the end of each show the whole audience are standing and jumping and singing, it is so powerful. I am still working on getting some photos added to the blog and also comments, but meanwhile just send us messages to hanna@mandh.se Check out www.rhapsodyinrock.se if you want to come and see the magic! Take care of yourself and everyone you know! Love/ Hanna (and Mattias)

Friday, June 19, 2009

THE MOVE 2!

We hope you can check us out on swedish tv4 "Sommarkrysset" on saturday! We are doing a number with Robert Wells and his band and Vocalettes. It will be great! The move 2 is really that we have moved again, to my parents in herräng. It si just for a week and we are enjoying top-service with even homemade cinnamonbuns. We and about 700 others are dancing all day and all night here at herräng dance camp. On monday we go to Falkenberg (or "Falconmountain" like they call it in the us and a) and start rehearsing for the big premiere on friday! Read more on www.rhapsodyinrock.se for more info and tickets. I havehad some complaints that you can´t make comments directly on the blog but I am working on having that fixed. Just send us an e-mail if you have some nice compliments or something. If you have mean stuff you want us to hear, just write it on a piece of paper, put it into a bottle and drop it in a ny major ocean. Write "uddhamn" on it to to be on the safe side. I will get it eventually, I am sure. Our computer is a bit ill right now. By accident a wall fell on it and also knocked a bottle of "ramlösa" (sparkling water) into it. Bad (about 33cl of "bad"). And wet. "Bad" brukar ju vara blöta, eller hur? It will dry for 48 hours, then we will see. Take care of yourself and everyone you know! /Hanna (and Mattias)

THE MOVE!

Welcome to my blog! Not my first blog ever, but the first one written in english. So I guess I should start with apologizing for my english miss-spellings. There will be many, please feel free to correct me (in a nice, friendly and supporting "wow, your english is still great-kind-of-way"-way). So the move; is from copenhagen to stockholm. They are both sort of capitals of scandinavia (no offense oslo!) (and also finland?), so it feels really great. This blog wont really be about dance-moves and such (so sorry for those who thaught the "the move" would be an actual dance-move, it´s not), it will more be a small guide to what we do and where and what I think about it. We have been working in a dinnershow here called "passion" and now we are on our way to a new show called "rhapsody in rock". We have most our families and friends in stockholm and long to be back with all of you! But copenhagen do not have to miss us too much. We will be back already the first weekend of august. During the summer we will also be in Herräng (the worlds best and largest swingdance-camp). So see you there if not before! Take care of yourself and everyone you know! /Hanna (and Mattias)

Happy to present the new Blogg!

Here you can follow the wonderful adventures of Hanna and Mattias 
written by Hanna Zetterman.