THANKS COPENHAGEN 2015

For all the people I have meet in these four months (Mention people and mention anecdotes is always a dangerous business. Memory is fragile, and forgetting someone is a mistake too easy to be committed. Nevertheless, I will take the risk.)

For those that maybe do not know it; the 10^th of March, I will move to Jutland. Although I will come back to Copenhagen the 11^th of April for the Koreografi Konkurrence in Dansekapellet, this may be a goodbye.

I arrived Copenhagen in November 2014, with a couple of backpacks full of worries and hopes.  Today, in the beginning of March I can say that my backpacks are full of thanks, wonderful memories, invaluable lessons, and tons of experience.

I guess that everything counts. Every shared moment, every “Hi!”; every “Why did you come to Denmark?; every reverberation of our laugh; every crazy idea; every dance movement; every broad-minded workshop… My adventure have been built around all the people who have been next to me. To all of you, I just can say “Thank you”. In this period, I have get to know some of the most inspiring and amazing people of my life. Some of them dancers and artist from so many backgrounds and with a huge range of skills and characteristics. Besides, I have met some wonderful human beings that have shared their vision with me, offering a new perspective of life, time and experience.  

To start at some point, I will thank all the BBoys from Breakpoint. I still remember the first day I went to Kulturhus and give all the energy that characterizes my first training in a new city. My happiness for discovering new dancers and bboys has offered me the possibility to know some of these wonderful guys. Thanks for these months we have shared. For the trainings, the championships (King of Jutland and Scandinavian BBoy Championship), the jams, the videos, advices, cyphers, laughs, Danish lessons… Thank you so much. You have been my BBoy family here. (Matjia and Karl needs special mentions, not as a bboys but as a friends :) )

Thanks to the people from StreetMeka and Flow Academy. Thank you very much for all the trainings there, and the connections I have built with Hip Hop and House dancers. Especially thanks to Marie who showed me how helpful and hospitable can be a kind-hearted Danish. Thanks to Hotsteppers academy, especially Karen and Joel, for organizing the Christmas Jam and offering me the opportunity of teaching there. Thank you very much for that 5 birthday, which was much of an amazing Hip-Hop Jam than a birthday.

Impossible to leave Copenhagen without thank to all people at Dansekapellet. Thanks to all their help and support in the evolution of my story. Thanks to Lousie for being the nicest boss I have ever had. Thanks to Uppercut Company for sharing all their talent and knowledge with me. Thanks to my wonderful students that have taught me as much as I hope I have taught them.  Thanks for promoting wonderful ideas like the Koreografi Konkurrence, the Tap Water Jam, or the Friday Kids Dance. Besides, Dansekapellet has been the epicenter of my life as a dancer, where I have met as wonderful people as Esther Chipo and Cornelia. They offered me the participation in Archetypes Kinetics in Arken museum, which has been a completely amazing and enriching experience. Thank you very much for the wonderful project that we have carried out together.

In Dansekappelet I also got to know Raphael, who introduced me directly in the core of the Contemporary dance scene in Copenhagen. Thanks to all the people in Dansehallerne, teachers as well as student. I have learnt so much in this couple of months that I am impressed how much influence you have put in my dance. Thank you very much to all the amazing teacher that have open my body and mind to limits that were completely unknown for me. Thanks to people like Bo, Cesar, or Kasper, that have proved to really be what lots of us love to name ourselves, ARTISTS.

Thanks to the students in Dansehallerne. Thanks to Kari and Yelena for let me hear so many times their wonderful laughs.

Also, thanks to Marie Gumdrop, I got to know about several auditions around CPH and Malmo. In these auditions, I have met Lene, a choreographer that in a couple of auditions have push my limits further than ever. Thanks also to Marie Sol for organizing the auditions in Oresund where I got really inspired being surrounded by choreographers and dancers of such professional level.

Thanks also to the Statens Scenekunstskole for a wonderful audition where I did not go through. Thanks to all the people from Afuk with whom I have shared those coffees and training sessions.

Also, thanks to some of the staff in Mama Rosa restaurant, that helped me in some of my most difficult moments. Eduardo, gracias amigo, for all these crazy nights in Christiania!! Thanks also to Maca, a small girl that has make my world bigger. Thanks to Sandra, a wonderful cook and an inspiring life teacher.

In a bit more than four months, I have worked in jobs that were not my vocation at all, (painter, moving furniture, waiter/barman in one of the worst restaurants in Copenhagen… [Mama Rosa. Please, do not go]); ride more than 10 bikes (quite a few, isn’t it?); and live in 4 houses (Osterbro, Frederiksberg, Bronshoj and Gentofte). Everything counts.

However, I have accomplished part of my dream, making a living through dance and art. I have worked as a dance teacher, performed in museums, taking hundreds of lessons and workshops from different disciplines, and getting to know many dancers that magically have became my friends…

Thank you very much to all of you. It will be difficult to forget this part of my life together.

Good luck with everything.

Carlos

Copenhagen 2015