Bilderammer fylt med høstblader

Speil med reinskinnkant

Dette speilet har jeg pyntet med strimler av reinskinn som er limt på rammen.

This mirror is decorated with pieces of reindeer-skin glued to the edge of the mirror.

Oppvaskmiddelflaske som pynter opp!

Jeg liker å ha zalo-flasken lett tilgjengelig på oppvaskbenken, men den er ikke spesielt innbydende der den står, derfor fant jeg på å lage ett trekk til flasken. Dette er laget av fotenden av grønne nylonstrømper med pålimt smykke. Nå ser det fint ut på benken min! :D

I like to have my the dishwashing soap easily available on the table, but it doesnt look very good. Thats why I got this idea of this bottle-wrap. It is made out of the end of green nylon stockings with a glued on piece og a necklace. It looks nice on my table now!

My Gothla.uk experiences. Discovering tribal fusion heaven!

Picture from my class at Gothla.uk 2010. Photo by Heike Humphreys

Gothla.uk is a Fusion bellydance event in Leicester ....England..... 3 days of workshops, shows, open stage and souk. The first edition in 2007 was a real eye-opening experience for me. It was quite a discovery to see how people use the dance to do all these crazy fun stuff, without any boundaries. Her Royal Hellness Lucretia aka Christine Emery made a huge impression on me. She made things her own way. She felt like doing a zombie-bellydance, so she did. And she did it with success! I had myself started to think about how to combine my Sami background with my dancing. Given that the oriental is just the opposite of the “stiff” Sami people. In the beginning I thought it was impossible. We don’t even have a known traditional dance. Sure there was some kind of dancing, but no one knows anything about it.....

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Rosie, one of the organisers (which I was buying Afghani belts from over the internet from) mentioned Gothla.uk, and that I should come. She promised it would be well worth it, so I went. Ariellah was there, and her being one of the dancers I was mostly inspired by, I was ecstatic when I was able to do all her classes and see her live! When I came back from my first Gothla.uk I was so full of impressions and inspiration that it was quite a turning point for me. A whole new world opened up for me. Everything was possible. I had just started teaching in ....Norway..... A little ATS and some Tribal Fusion. But after Gothla.uk I only wanted to continue doing Tribal Fusion, and I wanted to do it dark. That first Gothla.uk has stayed in my mind since, I will never forget how I felt being there, it was like going to Tribal Fusion heaven!....

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The next year I unfortunately couldn’t travel to Gothla. In ....Norway.... I continued the work with bringing my Sami background into my dancing. I danced onstage on concerts with Sami artists and bands in ....Norway.... and choreographed to Sami music and tried making Sami dance costumes. ....

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The third edition of Gothla.uk in 2009 I was able to go back, and it was once again a powerful experience for me. The impressions where overflowing! Everyone, organisers, teachers and students where again just fantastic awesome people! I signed up for the open stage and was dying from my nerves. I was, like always on dancing weekend events, tired, overworked, and the body was hardly functioning from booking too many workshops… but I kept going! (will take better care of myself from now on) I danced at the open stage, could hardly breathe and was terrified by the thought that Ariellah and Morgana, two of my biggest inspirations would actually sit in front row watching me. At this time I felt I had no progression at all in my dancing, and wasn’t sure if I should continue my work with Tribal Fusion in the extend that I had been. I remember thinking: “If Ariellah says it is good, I will believe her. If she thinks it good, it has to be, and I will continue dancing and never think about stopping again”. I danced to Beats Antique- terrified, and aching, but gave everything I had. Afterwards Ariellah said, “You are that Sami artist, aren’t you?” (we had talked on myspace before, and met in class, but I never expected her to remember me amongst all the people she meets around the world.) I answered “Yes, how did you know?”, and she said something like “You showed it in your dancing. It was good!” And it was like she screwed a lightbulb on my head! Of course! I showed it in my _dancing_! Not the music and costume, but in my dancing! The piece I danced had nothing to do with Sami culture. The group Beats Antique is from ....USA...., and the moves where all known Fusion dance moves. But my expressions and the way I put together moves, and how I execute them tells everything! It’s not so much about costume and music, its all about expression! ....

I realised then that all the classes I had given, where I had been talking about expressions, feeling and focus, I was really trying to educate myself, and tell myself how to combine Tribal Fusion and Sami tradition without it being unnatural and full of clichés . Now I realised how simple it was! Dancing has a lot of acting in it. But acting is acting out a part of _yourself_. And dancing is acting out a part of yourself. Yet another turning point for me thanks to Gothla.uk.....

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After this performance I was invited to teach at Gothla.uk 2010. To be asked was really overwhelming and I couldn’t really believe it. I was so surreal. I had everything to thank Gothla.uk for. It had been my biggest source of inspiration, and now was my chance to inspire other people. I felt so lucky to be able to give something back when I had received so much. The spirit of all dancers there is so alive. Everyone is so dedicated. I haven’t experienced this spirit so strong in other dance events, and to be able to be a bigger part of it now makes me feel really privileged! ....

After my performance at the show, I couldn’t sleep at night. The only times in my life I can’t sleep is when I get new ideas and make up new projects for myself. And this time I saw clearly how my dancing would grow from this point on. I knew exactly what I should be doing to continue my Tribal Fusion road trip. This Gothla made me realise exactly what it is that I can bring to the table, what makes me the dancer I am, and how I can use it when I create. ....

My workshop “Tribal Fusionze Yourself” went really well. The dancers I talked to afterwards said they had been so inspired, and had started thinking about their own path in dancing. That is exactly what I wanted with this workshop, so it couldn’t have gone better! I am really happy now! Thank you Rosie, Heike, Bridie, Susie, and everyone else I have been in contact with at Gothla, you all make my life special! :D....

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P.S. Yes Heike, when I said I know what I wanted to do, I meant will do a forrest-fairy-troll-fusion. Heheh Its going to be awesome! ....

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I have an older blog too!

For older posts go to my Myspace blog:
For eldre innlegg gå til min Myspace blog:
www.myspace.com/elinonstage

My album gets 5 of 6 points!

NRK Sami Radio has reviewed my album and it was 5 og 6 points! Thats great! yaaayyy!! reviewer is Håkon Isak Vars.

If you want to listen to it (sami only), go to:

http://www.nrk.no/kanal/nrk_sami_radio/ardna/1.6903359

Album release 8th december 2009!

yeaaaaaahhhhh!!! I finally have a release date! I have signed with the Saami Label DAT, wich have helped me so much to get this CD out this year! Thank you! I have been waiting so long, and finally I can release my debut album Jikŋon Musihkka-Frozen music! I am sooo happyyy!!!

Márkomeannu 2009

1. of august we played a concert at Markomeannu, which is a sami Fesival on Troms, North of Norway. It is outdoors and there is always a really nice atmosphere there. We had a great gig, people were curious of my performance and I felt really welcome. :D

The days before the concert I held a Tribal Fusion workshop for childen. It was so much fun! The kids where enjoying it so much, they didnt want to stop dancing! :D Some of the children even danced some of the moves I thought them at my concert. Thats so flattering!

My first pre-release concert!

Today we played the first pre-release concert in my hometown Karasjok. I have the best band ever! Jan Martin Smørdal, Juhani Silvola, Jonas Howden Sjøvaag and my producer Ole Jørn Myklebust played with me. My sworddancing went well and the audience liked it! Unfortunately my videocamera is broken, so I wasnt able to film it. This sucks cause it was a historical concert -for me anyway. I hope I get some pictures from it soon. ;D We only played songs from the coming album "Jiknon musihkka/Frozen music" and "in goassige" from Lahka EP. It was nice I got to have my first concert in Karasjok where it all begun... :D Tomorrow we play in kautokeino!

"Banden" on NRK P3 radio

Hihi Today this guy from a funny radioshow interviewed me. it was cool, cause he had never heard about the Sami Grand Prix, like many others non-samis.

To look at his blog go to www.nrk.no/banden/sami-grand-prix

Practicing with the band!

Those really really talented guys who are playing concerts with me are the best ever! Hope they will play with me FOREVER! HAHAHA They all have names with J and that must be the reason why they are so good together! hehehe Wow its going to be exciting concerts this easter! I'll be dancing alot, and also with my sword, so I hope the sami people like that! :D

Stem på meg på midnattsrocken.no

Jeg er visst en artistene man kan stemme på til å bli "finnmarks favoritt" og dermed ende på scenen til midnattsrocken iår! Det hadde vært kjempekult å spille der, så stem på meg! :D yeaaaahhh!!

Going for Sami grand prix again!

I am going to participate in sami Grand prix again this year! This time with a song that Ole Jørn Myklebust composed, and I wrote the lyrics for. It's called "Du lusa" (To where you are). Its going to be an exciting competition. I know the most of the other who are participating from before, and they are all well known, so its going to be really really exciting! But still hoping for the best! :D

Guest on IZU TV

Today the program of IZU TV on NRK3 where I was a guest was shown. It was kind of embarrasing to be the guest there, cause I had to tell some intimite secrect if we lost the competition of putting on 30 condoms to a dildo in 1 minute. At first they wanted me to to this while dancing, but I refused, thank god! oh and we lost the competition...

To see the program go to http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/439326

Liet Lavlut Competition

Today was the Liet Lavlut competition. I don't know where to start, there is so much to tell. The trip was so interesting and it was so much fun meeting people from all over Europe. My dress made by Anne Kare Kemi turned out ok, and the band played just great! It sounded awesome, even though we just met this Thursday when we practised for 3 hours. It's going to be great working with them more in the future. I came second in the competition, which was a bit disappointing not only for me but all of Sápmi who has won every time they have participated, so that makes me feel a bit sad. It was shame I couldn't have the same version of the song as I had in Sami Grand Prix, cause it would be to exphensive to bring that band to Luelå.



The Sami media has made a tv-story about me being there, I will put it out here when you can watch it on the web.