Oh Land Talks To Who's Jack
Oh Land, aka Danish singer and producer Nanna OLand Fabricius grew up just outside of Copenhagen as one member of a very musical family.
Her mother, an opera singer, and father, an organist and composer, quickly instilled in her a passion and understanding of music and the arts. ‘I grew up with the idea that music is something that all of us must create. As I grew up in a very musically orientated family it was always the main medium that I used to express myself. It just seemed very natural to me,’ says Oh Land when we meet at our photo shoot in East London.
As we prepare for the shoot to begin the very slight figured Oh Land keeps the crew entertained with tales from her time as a ballet dancer. You see, music hasn’t always been Oh Land’s chosen career, prior to entering the music industry she spent ten years as a professional ballet dancer firstly as a member of the Royal Danish Ballet School and then when she was 15 as a member of the Swedish Ballet School. She was encouraged in to dancing by her mother, who when Nanna decided she didnít want to get in to music, sought a creative outlet for her daughter.
It turned out that Nanna’s mother had chosen well and she went on to enjoy a 10 year career as a ballet dancer. It was only when she injured her back at the age of 18 that she was forced to give up dancing and it was only then that she considered music as a career. ‘Loads of my friends from my dancing days were in Black Swan,’ she tells us. Rumour has it that there were some tensions on set because the choreographer Benjamin Millepied cheated on one of the dancers with Natalie Portman.
Despite the fact that she constantly seems to have a smile on her face that would lead anyone to believe that she doesnít have a care in the world it becomes apparent during outfit changes how much her dancing injury still effects the singer, struggling to walk in heels or to bend over properly and taking pain killers throughout the day to help ease the pain. ‘When I was a dancer I spent a long time overtraining myself and because of that I began to get small injuries and then suddenly one day my back hurt so much that I couldnít walk for two whole months. It turned out that I had fractured my spine and had a slipped disc, I was so devastated for a really long time but I have no regrets now.
Even if I could turn back time I would still choose singing over dancing. The way I see it is that I needed to go through such a tough time to be able to make the music that I make today.’
Read the Rest of the interview in our April Issue – Here
Images : James Lincoln
