Now here's some fun for those of you familiar with the folk music scene in Norway — Leif Rygg competing in… lausdans / halling ?!?!
The video was taken at the recent Vestlandskappleiken 2009, held in Jostedalen. This is a multi-province folk music and dance competition on Norway's west coast.
They have just announced that Atle Hoff of Gaular Spelemannslag will compete in lausdans (halling).
Instead, we see Leif Rygg — a five time winner of the Norwegian National Folk Music competition in hardingfele (Hardanger fiddle) — dancing Vossarull (rudl) with Hoff's partner and "hat holder", Mari Andrea Ness, and then attempting to give Hoff some competition. A bit of fun, indeed.
I have not yet been able to find out who the fiddler is and what s/he is playing.
Hoff and Ness were one of three pairs in the Kongepokal hardingfele (Hardanger fiddle) dance final of NM i Folkemusikk 2009 / Landskappleiken in Geilo. They came in third, dancing Parhalling frå Dalsfjorden. They also placed sixth in the same category dancing Viksdalspringar — a dance not often seen at the national competition.
Vel fortjent! Well done!
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I like how the audience “gets” it:
* that Rygg _deliberately_ is dancing badly, e.g., jerking his partner from CW to CCW turns;
* that they know that he’s not some boorish rap-singer, interrupting an acceptance speech, who deserves to be forcibly and immediately ushered off the stage;
A knowledgable audience, indeed.
Rygg’s laus-dance is also a testament to how really difficult it is to make the very-athletic laus-dance _look_ to be easy. This is not a “dig” on Rygg — he’s older than me, and I know that I cannot dance anywhere near that well — it’s a compliment to the talents of all laus-dancers.