Tony Irving An Englishman in Sweden

Last night I was invited to a crayfish party at  an acquaintances house on the Island of Ekerö. 

Ekerö is a very rural Island which is very close to the city so I took a taxi just incase so I didn't have to leave my car.

I'm really glad that I did . I feel rough today although I don't remember drinking so much last night that I should feel this way today.

Champagne, White wine,red wine,beer and a couple of bränvin. I must be getting old . 10 years ago I could drink that and not feel a thing.Today I feel like a grumpy old man.

But it was worth it!

I met some really interesting people . A couple of the guests were old acquaintances from Lets Dance.

All in all a great dinner ,great company and a night I will remember.

Since I stopped dancing myself in 2005 I haven't trained ,exercised or moved very much. With the exception of a little demonstration here and there when I am am on the road .

And as most of you saw in Lets Dance earlier this year ,I'd become a real little fatty.

But as you know I started training with Cecilia Ehrling in May to get ready for a new cabaret show.

So we've been training Mondays to Fridays and then I've been going to the Gymn.

I can honestly say that I am really enjoying myself.

Yesterday we had a colleague of mine work with us for 4 hours. Then I taught for 3 hours. When the day was over I was on cloud 9. 

I woke up this morning and had to roll myself out of bed.

Every muscle in my body ached.

Its hilarious !

I feel as though I've been run over by a tractor. 

I had a great practice with Cecilia today.

We focused mainly on the Tango . God I feel so sexy! 

I haven't felt like this for years.

And no, I'm not going straight.

It's just the music ,the body ,the feeling.

This is why I love dancing so much...

For those of you that live in Sweden you might have read a couple of weeks ago that there are a lot of new projects that I am involved with. well finaly we have started work on the first.

For the last 3 weeks I have been writing a new book. There are still a lot of thing s to do and its not going to be published utill next March but it feels great.

On my mothers side of the family 2 of her sisters had resaurants in Cornwall and growing up every summer I used to go down and spend a month with them.

One of my aunts had a place in Newlyn a little Cornish fishing village and the other had a place in Falmouth.

Due to this I found that I enjoyed working in the kitchens.

So when it came time to decide what I would do with my life I took a 2 year full time course in Hotel Catering. Its called a BTEC

Unfortunately,or fortunately depending on how you see things I never had to focus on that  as my dance career has always been in focus. But now I have the oppurtunity to do something with it.

SO my new book is a combination of both my passions. Food and dance.

What could be better.

I,m not going to say any more. But this week has been all about testing all my recipes.

The rest of the projects I'll have to wait and see what happens.

Potential is there but its out of my hands for now.

There is nothing worse than looking in the mirror and saying thats not my body.

Well unfortunately Thats where I ended up.

Who would have thought it? After a life time as a dancer and being always so aware of my body.

I became the little fat ,middle aged man with love handles.

The realisation sat in when I saw my self dance with the other judges in this seasons Lets Dance.

Oh my God! We danced a Samba and I had great rythmn. My body never stopped moving. Regretably it wasn't due to the dancing just that I kept wobbling.

So when the season stopped I whent on an intensive training programme. 

I have now gone down 6 kilos. Training regularly and eating Healthy.

Sounds great, Feels great .But Its so boring I really miss my Chocolate...

There is another reason for me to also get back in shape . In september I will be dancing again . I will be doing a new cabarét show with Cecilia Ehrling.

So wish me luck and I will keep you updated 

For the first time in years I finally managed to remember the change over to Summertime .

Its one of those dreaded moments in the year where if you forget it ,it can really mess you up.

Yesterday a friend of mine gave me a really easy way to remember when it goes forwards or when it goes back. ( I am never sure which it is)

Put your patio furniture out-move the clock forwards.

Bring the patio furniture in-Move the clock back.

Ok! so now I have an easy way to remember the direction the clock changes,but that doesn't change the lethargic feeling I have because I've lost an hours sleep.

Luckily I have a 2 hour train journey to Linköping today so I have the opportunity to catch up on my sleep .

Otherwise I would be tired and irritable all day.

Well the 6th season of The Swedish version of Strictly Come Dancing is over and the winner was the amazing Jessica Anderson.

As usual it all came down to the last dance. The show number and she was just a little bit better than her opponent Frank.

It's been a good season and I have to admit that in general we have had a year with quite good dancing.

The program seems to have found stable ground and it really has been a pleasure working with it.

But now its time to get back to reality.

The victory celebration for Jessica  was held at the 0pera house in Stockholm. And I m sure the party went on untill the early hours of the morning.

I was a little bit boring and left early as I have a show today in Västerås with David and Malin Watson. Then its a Disco Freestyle competition and all the dancers from my dance school are competing so I think I will go and watch.

Tomorrow I will be in Linköping with the Sports dance club giving a 3 hour workshop on Bugg and Swing. 

Yep ! There is no rest for the wicked .

Back to the real world.

But the thing I will remember most from this season is Frank Anderson. When alls said and done. His story and participation have made this season what it has been.

Lets dance at its best!

Ok! Now my trial period is over. I have been trying to figure out everything with this blogg.

What to do ! WHAT NOT TO DO! And when to do it.

I've looked at other bloggs. Analysed techniques,styles and principles.

My realisation is that it's best just to do my own thing in my own way.

So starting tomorrow, watch out world.

Playtime is over and it's time to do it for real.

Sometimes I feel as though I have no control over my own life. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining it's just that last week was one of the most hectic weeks I can remember for a long time.

Generally I am one of those people who hate having nothing to do. So when I do have time off I find it very difficult to just kick back and relax.

During the last week I have pre-recorded 3 radio interviews, Been on the early morning radio on 2 different stations. Done one trip on Cinderella with the dance show. Done one TV show -Lets Dance. Had one meeting to arrange everything for my new book. Driven to Västervik to perform a show at a function. Run the dance school .Today I will be filming a pilot for a new TV show. Tomorrow I will be filming a sketch for another tv show.

But this weekend I am free... Hurray....

I am going to the Melody Festival final on Saturday night with Maria Öhrman.

One of the luxuries that Swedish people have is the workers rights.

Compared with the other countries that I have lived and worked in . England, America,Portugal.  The laws and attitude towards work often feel for me that having a job is something people do part time ,in comparison to how it is in other countries.

This week is the sports holidays. Yes thats right for those of you that are not from Sweden it is the time of year that Swedish children have a holiday so that they can focus on sports.

But its one of those times of year that nearly everybody wants time off from work. So in reality a lot of businesses are nearly on a stand still.

Now I know That everybody has the right to time off from work, but this is not the only time of year that everybody is free at the same time.

In a few weeks its Easter and then there is practically a 2 weeks period when everybody is off again. Then from about the 14th of June to the 6th of August the country closes down for Summer. And I mean literaly closes down. It often feels like there are more tourists in Stockholm than there are Swedes.

But it does not stop there. Then you have the Winter half term ,2 weeks at Christmas not to mention all the Bank Holidays, or as they are called in Sweden "Red Days."

So if you are like me and you work in a business which revolves around peoples social and leisure time then you can look forwards to approximately 3 months a year where you might as well not open the doors of the dance school.

Unfortunately this also has a direct affect on work ethics.Depending on how you interpret things.

Many of my students talk and dream of becoming Champions. They have ambitions to be the best in the world. Which is admirable. 

But they only want to work and train for the 9 months of the year when there are no holidays because they have to have their holidays and  when they are not on holiday they have to have their 2 days off per week.

How do you teach a child that you get out of life what you put in to it. If you work hard you have a chance to achieve your dreams .But you cann't do it part time.

I know that what I am insinuating can be seen by some to be a little radical for Sweden ,but when a system teaches children to focus on leisure/ social time and not instill in them hard work ethics. How can we motivate them to be the best?

Yesterday I saw a program on Tv that discussed the fact that 1 in 7 Swedish children play truant from school for at least 1 day a week. 

Who's fault is this? Is it the parents?The schools? or is it possibly a reflextion of a system that teaches children that work comes second to their social life.