2020 was one of those years that we will never forget. A pandemic. Covid-19. On the 13th of March 2020 we had to put on pause everything.
As if this all wasn’t enough, 5th of May of that same year… my husband suffered a serious car accident, and it is by God’s grace that he is now with our family… There was a lot of pressure in the family and everything that surrounded me at that time was screaming at me~ “Stop dreaming, there is no point to continue to believe in your dreams! Look around you! Can’t you see what is happening?!”

It was a tough period in which, I have to admit, I almost forgot about the seed of my dream that I planted in my heart years ago… This post is dedicated to the dreams… The dreams that all of us might have now or in a near future… Big or small… It is a reminder to all of us that dreams do not die ever, they merely fall asleep… After enough time had passed and the time was right, I was ready to continue and pursue this dream of mine that soon touched other people too and my dream, slowly became our dream… The seed I planted in my soul years ago, flourished and grew into an incredible source of life for our dream… Ideas flooded in and so, I started working on the script…

It was after that chaotic tide of the unfortunate event that almost washed up all hope in my life where things started to get better as they say… Sun does shine after the rain ends… I was blessed to encounter those who will have a main role in the ‘Imagine Show’. These encounters are very special because they occurred in a historical period of social distancing. So when the world out there stopped I discovered a whole new world. The first person I had the pleasure to encounter was Lena Dzalbo, a prima ballerina of Latvia… She danced for a decade as a professional dancer and moved to Belgium to teach dance. We had a quick conversation of what she currently was doing and what she used to do as a professional dancer ~ In that moment I was absolutely not thinking about the show I was working on but after a few days I thought ‘oh she could be my choreographer!’. So we fixed a date to have a video call given the social distancing. I shared everything about my project and when the distancing restrictions dropped we decided to meet each other. I must say that this meeting I will never forget. I had prepared a PowerPoint presentation with several scenes of the show. I had prepared myself that I couldn’t expect she would have the same vision and ideas as me in terms of choreography and staging. To me it was very important and as soon as we sat down and talked, I knew right away that this is the way to go…

I remember I showed her the title of the first slide and a few key words then she immediately started to describe the whole scene just as if someone told her beforehand what I had in mind. She mentioned several details that I had in mind and that nobody could know. This was very impressive for me. at a certain point Lena said ‘I feel like I can trust you’, this really touched my heart. How many times I had talked about it with other people without results and adding frustration. Finally I met someone who had the same vision as me and who believed in it. Someone who didn’t talk about the obstacles and difficulties we would have but rather about the possibilities!

In that same year I also met the person who will do scenography and lighting of the show. That’s also a huge role for this project. It was very special how we met. I remember it was a normal day at the restaurant and I was managing reception. I remember it being a busy day and the only table left downstairs near the entrance, was about to be occupied by 2 men, distinct in their work clothing… I was a bit hesitant at the beginning due to the moral ethics we imply in our restaurant, but I decided to seat them down either way… Again, it felt to me like a test that I managed to pass… One of them, got my attention by the fact that on his shirt, he had written “Lights” and they started talking about stage and whatnot, I immediately realized that these men are what I need for my project… Long story short, it was trough them that I met Frederick Heerincks.

These are just two examples of many more but it’s just to give you an idea of what I experienced during this complicated year of covid-19. It was like a had a ‘facilitator’ on my side who guided me through the unknown pathways. The last encounter I would like to share is when I met a lady ‘Eveline’. This also happened in the restaurant. She enters the restaurant to take-away what she ordered and while I let her pay, she asks where exactly I live and she confirms that she lives very nearby my house, just the street next to me. I give her the bill and she wait to get the food she ordered. I continue with the next client and when I finish Eveline is still waiting and we start to talk. Keep in mind we were wearing face masks due to Covid so let’s say not ideal to communicate. Anyway, I ask her what her occupation is, and it turns out she has an Atelier. I ask her if her job is also her passion, and she confirms that it absolutely is. So, I feel free to share my passion to sing and she says, ‘I know’ and I was really surprised to hear this. She explains that one day when my videoclip of 2019 came out her mother shows it to her and doing some research she discovers the singer of the videoclip is the lady from the Italian restaurant. Different people were waiting on their food orders, but we continued despite the barrier of the face masks, to talk and share our dreams. She encourages me to persevere in the dream I have in mind and to not listen to what people say. She also shares how many times people laughed at her when she decides to step in her dream and open an atelier of baby clothes without having any experience in this matter. Afterwards I visited her in her beautiful atelier and there I was able to share every detail of my project. I remember she asked what she could mean or do for me, how she could help. In that moment I had no idea what she could do or how she could help me for this project. We had a very nice conversation about the working of an atelier. The days after our meeting I realize in what way she could have a role for the show: the costumes. We talk on the phone about the fact that I would need an atelier to produce the costumes for the show. It was so great to me to experience how welcoming she was and without hesitating she was willing to help me in this.

I would definitely say that 2020 was the year of beautiful first encounters despite of the pandemic. The year in which the dream became a mission. In 2021 the pandemic continued but also those beautiful first encounters. Throughout 2021 I had plenty of encounters with musicians, producers, creatives, songwriters, art directors, coaches and so on. The years of the pandemic were for me paradoxically the years in which people were~ Like the saying goes… “The Red Thread”.