Season 2, Ep. 09

Christchurch Art Gallery

Okay. So this post shall be brief and to the point. Nothing deeper than the title which is pretty self explanatory. The posts about the holiday at the South Island are wrapping up today with a post about the Art Gallery I visited while in Canterbury. 

I hadn't visited a proper Art Gallery since forever I feel. So it was much to my disappointment when I heard that the Christchurch Gallery may be shut and under construction since the earthquakes. That was an assumption anyway and that's what it looked like as I was walking up to the building from the side and that side was covered in scaffolding. But no, all good, false alarm, wide open to the public and quite an impressive building may I say. 

I first started at the top floor with my partner who after the first room decided to walk back downstairs, give me my time to view and wait. Lol, hash tag not for everybody. The range of art was just enough I reckon, not too tiny, you know, one room, 10 paintings and you're out, neither was it endless floors of art that you can't even remember the last one you viewed after.

The first room that really impressed me was The Golden Age. It was engravings on wood from the 20th Century. So impressive. The details on each piece were so carefully done that I almost started believing they're fake, no way someone could do this on wood. Indeed my friends, indeed. 

I looked through rooms that focused on New Zealand's history in paintings but the next room that caught my eye was post-modern art. These rooms always catch my eye and not always for the right reasons. Here I am looking through amazingly detailed paintings and engraved pieces of art from the 20th Century and then I walk into a room with a LARGE yellow painting, excuse me, 'painting', and... I'm supposed to read between the lines? I mean, that's just one woman's opinion but I never understood that kind of art. There's the artist that sheds blood, sweat and tears over an oil painting of a meadow for example, with excruciating detail you can almost see the little bird on the tree about to poop, and then there's the lazy 'post-modern' artist who prints a yellow canvas aaaand suddenly it's the hottest thing in the gallery. Come on...

Again, one woman's opinion, everyone is entitled to their own. Happy to hear yours. 

Anyhoos, yellow, shmellow, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing and finally I should mention the room named 'Pip & Pop'. It was a massive installation in a small room made from sugar, tiny objects, glitter, paint and portrayed the landscape allude to the Japanese tradition of Kintsugi*. So beautiful, so colourful, so yummy, so happy, it caused all the happy feelings I tell ya. 

Loved it. Hope you can love it as much as I did if you get a chance to travel down here or even through my photos. Now, this week is for art lovers, next week is for lovers. V-day.

www.instagram.com/katerinageorgiou

*Kintsugi

Season 2, Ep. 04

Italia Conti, Continued.

 I'm gonna use a more festive colour to type this episode due to the holidays. Ha. 

 Hi! How you doin'? Counting down till Friday? I am! I'm actually cheating and decided to open first presents on Christmas Eve. Hashtag, sorry not sorry.

 Anyhoo, where were we. Oh, apologies for derailing the subject last week, but, you know, Ed Sheeran. 

So my time at the Drama College was definitely a big chapter. There were a lot of firsts. No, not those firsts. One of them was my first big panic attack. You know, like the panic attacks you get where you can't breathe and you squeal like a fox trying to gasp for air and at the same time you can't shut up, you just have to try to form sentences? Yeah that.

 I was always into my Ballet, it was after all my first form of art that I got into. I started as soon as I could walk and I just kept progressing until deep into my teens when I became so passionate I was taking extra summer courses abroad at Ballet Schools. So when I got into Italia Conti, and one of our classes was a Ballet class, almost every morning, I was bound to be one of the good ones. Good so far? Okay. Now, the teacher that handled the advanced ballet class was a typical British woman-'nough said- with her posh accent and her tough love approach. Think J. K. Simmons on Whiplash. Classic right? The tough teacher who pushes the talent and makes their life a living hell so they are ready to face whatever is out there once they graduate etc etc...classic right? Yeah, kinda like that. No bleeding fingers, maybe toes. Hashtag pointe shoes.

 So, I was getting told off and corrected over the smallest arm move mistake, leg, hip, knee, pointy toe mistake...breathing mistake. I had actually been "trained" to deal with this "type" of teachers early on, as my ballet teacher during my teens wasn't exactly a softie either, but did his job amazingly. But I wasn't ready for this woman, oh no. You see, apparently my focusing and listening face  came across as defensive and uninterested at the time. And that was the problem. You know not to take it personally being attacked and corrected for your technique because you know the  teacher sees something in you and that's why they're pushing you, but when suddenly you're told these exact words: "you are so uninterested, and look like you do not care Katerina", oh I remember this like yesterday, it totally hits the crap out of you. 

And you do such a good job reacting professionally and mature and walking out at the end of the class with your head high after of course you have said back 'no way, I am very interested'. You walk out and you feel so mature for not breaking down or even tearing up. And then your fellow class mates go "unbelievable what happened in there, I don't know how you did it, I probably would have had a meltdown right there if that happened to me". And here. We. Go. It's exactly the same when you are not okay, do an awesome job holding it in until someone asks if you're okay and the waterfalls start. 

 The more I sat there weeping and boiling, the worse it became, you know how women work, they sit there overthinking everything and end up frying their brains out. And that was it, the whole thing had taken its toll by then for me and so I storm back in the room while she was still there packing up and threw THE LOUDEST and funniest, tantrum ever. Have never done this to a man, but yeah sure, I did it to my Ballet instructor. I sat her down and started mouthing with much little sense words like "how do you dare telling me that I am not interested, I work hard!!" and things like that, until the panic attack from all the pressure that everyone goes through at those Drama Colleges hit me hard. No need to describe it again, just re-read paragraph 3 if you need. And that's when she held me tight, helped me breathe normally again, calm down, get over myself, and told me the same thing. She pushed me because she saw something and the face thing. Well she had better warned me about it as soon as she noticed before it would be too late apparently. Imagine being in at a job, at an audition and looking at the director with an "uninterested and defensive" expression. Fair enough. 

 Needless to say that this woman became my mentor and tutor till the end of the year, whenever we had or needed one to one time with our mentor for advice she was the one I would run to. To this day she is the person I respect the most out of that school, won't forget and are still friends on Facebook with-lol. As a mentor and a teacher myself, even if clearly everyone has their own approach and chemistry with their students, her honesty is what I've taken away from her. Thank you.

Take this time to enjoy your Christmas. Take this time to be with the ones you love, take this time to appreciate what you have. You can start complaining again next week. Ta. Merry Christmas!~

Katerina

Season 2, Ep. 03

"X"

Ed Sheeran live you say? I say hooray. A simple but genius idea for a mother's day gift that spiralled into one of the finest weekends 'away'. Clearly by mother's day you understand we booked in May. And the concert was 3 days ago. Hashtag girl's gotta be prepared.

Ed. Boy do I love Ed's music. From day 1. I remember when I was under the impression that Rupert Grint, aka Ronald Weasly from Harry Potter had released a single when 'Lego House' came out. Lol. And then I became a fan. So when we heard that this little ginger genius is coming to New Zealand we couldn't resist. 

It was an all girls trip to one of the busiest and most visited cities of New Zealand. And my first time in Auckland. Auckland looks like a combination of 3 known big cities in my humble opinion. Athens, New York and Sydney. Have not visited Sydney yet but I will take up on my girlfriends' opinion about that. The main street, the harbour, the houses, the cafes and the super well dressed Aucklanders, it all left me with an excellent first impression. The weather very much helped, nice and warm, a sweet taste of pure summer. 

And now to the concert. First of all, a big thank you to the city for being so organised about this. Almost 100 free coach rides were available to take us to the venue and back once it was all finished. I mean, wow. Definitely saved us crowded, cramped queues to trains and standing still for an hour until we finally caught one. No. It was a smooth operation. 

When we arrived and sorted ourselves out regarding seats, drinks, quick toilet visit etc, we walked in half way through Passenger's performance as one of the two opening supporting acts. He was beautiful,just what you need when you first arrive at a concert, a calm solo acoustic musician to set the mood and sets us all in the right mind frame for the big Ed moment. Unfortunately as good as he was, I only know 'Let Her Go', which I bashed out singing along when he sang it with everyone else. Soon after he was done, Rudimental took on the stage and boy did they bring it all up a notch. Suddenly we're all in party mood, with their cheerful and catchy tunes, and here I am admitting that I had no idea I know so many songs of theirs. Yeah, I suck like that, I know songs but I never bother figuring out who they are by or titles etc. Anyway, Rudimental featured 4 main vocalists and they were all fab. Funny downside: half way through their set, the stadium had a massive power cut and everything went to silence! We waited until everything restarted and rebooted as fast as they could, but despite the blatant technical difficulty, no-one's mood was ruined or annoyed or whatever. Hashtag not the end of the world, hashtag don't want our money back.

Ed. As cheesy as he is, he is so the right kind of cheesy. First we got to see a footage of his steps in music, and how much he literally struggled to get to this point of singing live in front of 200k people audiences. And then he walked on stage. The first thing we all noticed is his All Blacks jersey. Cute and respectful. He starts singing, OH and by the way, his entire set was JUST him and his collection of guitars. He supported the entire show on his own, no other form of instrument support, no band, just a couple of backing singers, invisible to the naked eye-lol. But the graphics behind him made such a massive impact on the whole thing. Props to the graphic designers. Anyway, I'm losing my trail of thought, as soon as he finished his first song, he turned around to switch guitars and that's when everyone's hearts in the crowd melted. Not only was he wearing an All Blacks jersey but he was wearing no 11, aka Jonah Lomu's jersey. Hashtag footnote: for my non-Kiwi mates, Lomu was a rugby veteran, who changed the course of rugby as we know it as the youngest All Black in history and with a record of scores and tries. Sadly he passed away about a month ago at age 40 from kidney disease. Sadly. So yeah, Ed paid his massive respect and boy did every Kiwi appreciate this. He was on the news and everything. Bless.

This was Ed's final performance after 2.5 years of touring and boy did he follow up his promise to sing his heart out even if he ended up losing his voice the next morning. The entire stadium was lit up to everyone's phone torches and it looked magical. Funny how back in the day people used lighters ae. Torches are prettier. Favourite moment. 'Thinking Out Loud'. Of course. I was waiting for the chick from the video to pop on stage and do their little contemporary dance but I settled to just watching the video being played in the background. Pf, okay.

All in all, a fab experience, with fab people, fab weather and a fab concert. Thank you Ed. Thank you for being successful. Hashtag thinking out loud.

"I see fire"

Season 1, Ep. 12

Season Finale

Pretty much every TV season finale there's been, there's a major dramatic climax in the middle of the episode, only to get resolved towards the end and then leave us again with a massive gasp right at the finish so we HAVE to watch the new season, right? Well, this season finale is gonna be just another standard rant, like all the previous episodes, since this is what this blog is all about. But believe me you want to come back for next season. Hashtag watch this space etc, etc.
ROH. Most Brits and artists might know what this ugly word stands for. It is basically the initials of the Royal Opera House. But yeah, the cool kids call it ROH. Anyhoo, tonight and for the final episode of this first season that I have thoroughly enjoyed writing about, it will be about my time at the Royal Opera House in London.
Coming from a dance, Musical Theatre and acting background I never thought I would ever get the chance to enter the doors of such a place, and never in my life did I think that I could get to work in this form of art. Didn't we use to mock Opera singing as kids? 
I was fresh out of Drama School for about a year and I was working full time at Abercrombie and Fitch to support myself while chasing 'that' dream. Oh yeah, I used to work there too. For a looooong time. But more on that later. Hashtag next season on the moo point, hashtag season finale gasp. At the time I was busy recruiting new models for the store's campaign and the sales-floor. What a job that was. Every single day, here I was, on the busy streets of Central London looking for the good looking. With me I had a buddy and co-worker who also happened to audition to be in the entertainment industry and he had actually done a couple of cool gigs on TV by then. He had some more connections. 
One fine, sunny day, here we are wandering around, when he mentioned that he would have to cheekily disappear for a few hours in order to run to an audition. Before I even had the time to ask about the audition he was already suggesting I should go with him. His exact words were, "I'll sneak you in, it's a dance gig at the Royal Opera House, they want background artists, you have to do this". I couldn't form any words, my gut always tells me, do it, what do I have to lose anyway, it is an opportunity. But of course, I wasn't sure if it was an open audition, aka anyone can go, just like the masses that show up at the X Factor auditions, or was it a close one. 
Long story short-ish, we showed up, we filled out some forms and my friend suggested I write down his agent instead of mine so we avoid any further questioning. His agent only dealt with dancers, aerialists and acrobats so they were so many people auditioning that day from his office. Perfect. No questions asked. I get called in, I spend 3 hours in dance classes, assessments, theatre exercises and group work until I finally find out at the end that I was selected to be a dancer for their upcoming Opera. Say what? Hashtag right place at the right time. And here's your irony, my friend did not get the gig. 
For the next few months, here I am, stoked about my achievement, rehearsing every day until the shows and finding out all about the magical world of Opera singers. And boy is it different from the rest of the industry. I never realised first of all, that Opera singers cannot keep singing as frequently as other regular singers. They strain their voices so much during one show that they can only perform 2-3 times a week and do some voice rest during the rest of the week. Thus they get heaps of understudies, and we were only able to put on a show every other day. Funny huh? But they have without a doubt, the most amazing talent. 
I also got to work with some old ass performers who had been knighted by the Queen as Sirs and Dames, damn. Other than that I felt so fancy in our fancy changing room, in our fancy period costumes, fancy wages lol. 
We got to perform during the Christmas season at the end of 2011 and right into the new year. My New Year's Day was spent at the theatre performing. 
I will never forget how happy I had felt that my first day of the new year had started in the Royal Opera House. I still have my Pass card. I will never forget the people I met and worked with over those few months. No way. And I will never forget the night Prince Charles came to watch us. Never. Never forget to grab a chance. What do you have to lose?

 "All the world's a stage and people it's mere players"

On the next season of The Moo Point. Abercrombie and Fitch. The Italia Conti chapter. The New York chapter. And the one with the ski. Toodles. 

Season 1, Ep. 02

             The "Lost" Phenomenon

   I feel like this blog will be much like the "Lost" series. Hashtag warning, there will be random flashbacks. Like a lot. MINUS the stupid, desperate ending to the story. I hope. It was nice how there were those flashbacks where we finally got to see the characters off that island looking decent. And technically I live on a island *purum pum tsss*.

   Isn't blogging awesome? I always loved writing but I never had the discipline to do it. I wrote a short screen play when this friend motivated me to do it as part of this American Short Film competition. The theme was the Greek recession. We had to write it, film it and submit it within 48 hours and incorporate our Greek flag in the story. Those were the rules. It was fun, and it did do very well I must brag. That's when I realised how much I enjoy writing. But blogging man, the old nanna in me thinks how neat it is to speak your mind about things and share it with people. Marvellous marvellous idea. 

   Since the Greek recession has been super hot in the media again this summer/winter, even here, I'm gonna talk about the short film a bit more. It's been over three years since we filmed it but 'somehow' it is still very current. We had asked two British actors to be in it and share their personal view on the country. What do they think of Greece. Their love for us was obvious. They know of the country as this beautiful, fun, friendly and carefree place on earth with its vast natural beauty. We incorporated their views in the story as well as their views on the recession crisis as much as we could. 

   To this day, no matter how much of a fever the media has caused due to the situation over there, our foreigners think of Greece as the land of Opa, Ouzo, sun, sea, moussaka, loud music and freedom. And if any of you amazing non-Greeks here don't understand any of these words, maybe it's time you booked your holiday to Greece, wink wink. Greek sea and sun not in crisis.

I left Greece almost a decade ago. But more on that next week *wink wink*

Ta, 

Katerina

PS: Feel free to check out the short film. It's pretty good. Check it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDKpmrMbDQo

For random mini-thoughts: https://twitter.com/kat_georgiou

Season 1. Ep. 01

                        Pilot:The Epiphany

I wake up for my normal middle of the night visit to the bathroom. But I had  a glass of wine with dinner last night and suddenly here I am having deep thoughts while lying in bed, not able to go back to sleep, thinking about starting a blog. "Yeah I can do this!", my self-pep talk. Drinking, not my thing. So a bit of wine brought me right here. 
What I'm gonna talk to you about is something that I'll probably figure out along the way. All I know is that I won't talk about one thing. I am not a fashion blogger, I am not Jamie bloody Oliver but I do love talking about travelling, arts, relationships and Tv. I used to act, I still choreograph, I teach, I use to train dogs and I also worked for friggin' Abercrombie and Fitch for 5 whole years. I have met, worked for and heard things about celebrities but don't expect any of that dirt from me. I am just showing off. Trust me it's all true stories. Actors being liars is a myth. Besides, I am not one anymore. 
You may find something to relate with in here. Pretty sure you can relate to some broken heart stories. Oh and by the way, I was born in Greece, lived in London for 9 years since 18, and then followed my heart all the way to New Zealand. So yeah, YOLO. Tag along. 

  
                                 https://instagram.com/katerinageorgiou/