traditional folk dance

Bunny hop? or jenka?

January 18, 2010

A while ago I came across this video of Swedish students doing a line dance version of the "jenka" ("jenkka" in Finnish) and noticed how similar the dance is to the American novelty dance, the bunny hop. So I started looking around for more information. The bunny hop Wikepedia entry links to an article in [...]

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EVENT: Finnskogpols Workshops, April 16-19, 2010

November 23, 2009

Skandia Folkdance Society has announed that this year's Springdans Northwest dance and music workshops (April 16-19, 2010) will feature the Finnskogpols (Polsdans from Finnskoga) taught by Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen and Veslemøy Nordset from Norway. Originating in the border area between Sweden and Norway, this dance is embraced by Swedes and Norwegians alike — as [...]

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What if Bach played the polska?

October 28, 2009

In 2007, two Swedish musicians developed a concert program and issued a CD called "Bach på svenska (Bach in Swedish)". Lisa Rydberg (violin) and Gunnar Idenstam (small reed organ) asked the questions: What might have happened if Johan Sebastian Bach had come to Sweden and met Swedish musicians? How might Bach's music and traditional Swedish [...]

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Vossarull vs. Operarull

October 20, 2009

Norwegian National Broadcasting (NRK) is now in the second season of broadcasting a series of short travelogue/culture videos called "Norsk Attraskjon (Norwegian Attraction)" — and they're now putting the videos on YouTube to share with the rest of the world. The program must be really popular in Norway because they already have more than 17,000 [...]

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Crested hen varietals

October 14, 2009

One of the most commonly known Danish folk dances is "Den toppende høne (The Crested Hen)". In many North America sources, I usually see only one version listed and taught. But there are multiple versions of this dance and the music. Here we have two examples of the dance and music straight from Denmark. The [...]

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Leif Rygg – lausdans kar!?

October 6, 2009

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 [...]

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Norwegian Dance: Valdresspringar

September 8, 2009

Even though I like to dance just about any dance, I admit to having a few favorites. One of them is Valdresspringar (the traditional "spring dance" native to the Valdres valley in Norway). I have no family from Valdres, so there is no historical or heritage connection for me. I simply like the dance! In [...]

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A polska halling

September 3, 2009

Many people think that halling is a dance found only in Norway. That's not true. Sweden, too, has a halling tradition. Halling is usually played and danced in a beat of 2/4 or 4/4. Here we have an interesting blending of halling being danced to a polska tune, which is in an asymmetrical beat of [...]

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A wonderfully laus-y way to dance

August 31, 2009

We're going to celebrate the dance known as "halling" this week by featuring both the dance and music for the dance. In 2007 the winner of the Norwegian national competition in Class B laus/halling competition was Ulf-Arne Johannessen from Ål, Hallingdal. This was the second time Johannessen had won in Class B (open class) competition [...]

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Norway wins Eurovision — with a folk twist!

May 18, 2009

They did it! It's truly a "Fairytale"! Even TIME Magazine is reporting the news. Alexander Rybak and the guys from FRIKAR, representing Norway, won the famed Eurovision contest — with no contest! — and on the eve of Norway's biggest national holiday, the 17th of May (Constitution Day / Syttende Mai). In fact, the entry was [...]

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Eurovision goes (un)traditional Norwegian

May 6, 2009

Eurovision 2009 will begin soon — and despite reading and re-reading the Wikipedia entry on it, I still can't even begin to tell you how this song contest works! Nevertheless, it is one of the longest running TV program in the world and millions of people watch it and vote for their favorite song. There [...]

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Frikar: Work in progress

May 5, 2009

Norway's tradition-rich dance company, FRIKAR, continues to push the envelope by combining old and new forms of traditional Norwegian dance. This is video of a work in progress that will debut at a world music festival next summer. The full performance will have its premiere in Gudbrandsdal on 5 August 2009. Danced by Ane Gjøvåg [...]

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Halling dance in Age of Conan video game

April 2, 2009

In October, I wrote about how the Norwegian dance, halling (also known as laus) had been filmed in motion-capture for inclusion in the Age of Conan game. Hallgrim Hansegård, a Class A (Master) laus dancer in Norway, was the dancer filmed for the sequence. I've now located a video that shows the dance in its [...]

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Danish folk dance in Buenos Aires

March 17, 2009

It's wonderful to see Scandinavian and Nordic traditions being carried on and shared in other countries. Yesterday, I was contacted by DUBA: Dansk ungdomsforening i Buenos Aires (Danish Young People's Organization in Buenos Aires) through their YouTube channel, dubafolke. DUBA is one of the organizations that does this in Argentina. The notes for the organization [...]

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Faroe Islands: Ormurin langi

March 12, 2009

Here is a wonderful example of what is known as songdans (song dance) or langdans (long dance) or ringdans (ring dance). This type of dancing/storytelling goes back to at least Viking times. These dances and stories were preserved in the Faroe Islands, where this video is from. The video is a great demonstration of this [...]

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