A post from Ung Scen Norr/ Norrbottensteatern
I wake up to a foggy morning in Luleå and jump on my bike towards work at the theatre. The rush towards the city is obvious, cars are moving forward in long lines. I find myself competing with a car and sometimes I even end up in town before the actual car I competed with. Gives me a feeling of being strong and powerful.
A word comes up in my mind. Empowerment. I compete with a car and I win! Even though the circumstances are not for my benefit. Empowerment is a word I often use related to various things in my work. Or correctly said: my work as a dramateacher is ALL about empowerment. It´s all about boosting people through drama and theatre. It´s all about saying theatre is a safe pIace, the theatre is not the place for bullying, you can come as you are, your feelings are important, you are important, together we can do great things. The swedish word for empowerment is translated to own power. This should be understood as having the power and possibility within you to decide about personal, socioeconomical and enviromental issues that effect your personal health. I strongly belive that theatre and drama are very powerful tools to boost people in so many ways.
November is obviously the black month up here. Its pretty dark when I jump on my bike in the morning and dark again when I leave the theatre, again on my bike. The lights from the city are absorbed into the darkness. Due to the lack of light it is easy to get slightly depressed at this time of the year but then, just as everyone almost looses hope something fantastic happens: December comes and brings snow! Snow is like magic, it turns the surroundings light and white again. These small icy raindrops play a major role for us living in this kind of climate. They affect the nature by putting it into sleep, it affects our minds, the safety on the roads (you obviously see much better when driving when the surroundings are white, it can be slippery though).
Autumn leaves are all covered and hidden under a white blanket. Snow forgives me for not having cleaned the garden during autumn. The snow empowers me, can one say that? The fact still remains and that is about darkness. It really is dark here during the wintermonths even though snow brings in light after the autumn darkness and one needs to find empowerment in different ways. Light up some candles on the diningtable, add extra lights indoor and also allow yourself not to be the most active during this time of the year. Maybe it is for us to understand that winter is the time to allow the body to rest a bit, read a book, enjoy the company of friends, family and await the spring again.
Today it´s friday and I decided that this blogpost shall be my final task at work this week. Soon i´m leaving the office but before jumping on my bike to home I will spend an hour with another empowering activity: I´m going to the gym and afterwards the weekend can embrace me big time!