Portrait

Rome

Rome, 2008

The Red Shoes IV

She tried to sit on a pauper's grave, where the bitter fennel grew, but there was no rest or peace for her there. And when she danced toward the open doors of the church, she saw it guarded by an angel with long white robes and wings that reached from his shoulders down to the ground. His face was grave and stern, and in his hand he held a broad, shining sword.

"Dance you shall!" he told her. "Dance in your red shoes until you are pale and cold, and your flesh shrivels down to the skeleton. Dance you shall from door to door, and wherever there are children proud and vain you must knock at the door till they hear you, and are afraid of you. Dance you shall. Dance always."

"Have mercy upon me!" screamed Karen. But she did not hear the angel answer. Her shoes swept her out through the gate, and across the fields, along highways and byways, forever and always dancing.

One morning she danced by a door she knew well. There was the sound of a hymn, and a coffin was carried out covered with flowers. Then she knew the old lady was dead. She was all alone in the world now, and cursed by the angel of God.

Dance she did and dance she must, through the dark night. Her shoes took her through thorn and briar that scratched her until she bled. She danced across the wastelands until she came to a lonely little house. She knew that this was where the executioner lived, and she tapped with her finger on his window pane.

"Come out!" she called. "Come out! I can't come in, for I am dancing."

The executioner said, "You don't seem to know who I am. I strike off the heads of bad people, and I feel my ax beginning to quiver."

"Don't strike off my head, for then I could not repent of my sins," said Karen. "But strike off my feet with the red shoes on them."

She confessed her sin, and the executioner struck off her feet with the red shoes on them.

First part: The Red Shoes I
Second part: The Red Shoes II
Third part: The Red Shoes III
---Based on the tale The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen---
---Translation taken from http://www.andersen.sdu.dk ---
---Translation taken from http://www.andersen.sdu.dk ---

"Landscaping"

Glen Nevis, Scotland (2005).

Istanbul, Turkey (2010).

Some old works...

Taken at the Sotomaior Castle, Galicia, Spain (2004).

Epica III

Epica in Madrid, Sala Heineken. March 27th 2010.















You can read a review of the gig (in spanish) here.