The Netherlands (Holland) is known for windmills, wooden shoes, tulips, Rembrandt, and Delft tiles and porcelain. The Dutch also have a long history of folk dancing.

Baonopstekker is a dance we do at Phoenix International Folk Dancers, though we end the sequence a little differently. Instead of dropping hands and turning in place, we keep holding hands in the large circle and do eight quick sidesteps in line of direction before starting the sequence over again. We call it the pancake dance, because of the flattening of the circle that occurs during bars 9-12. But the lyrics of the song have to do with the bean harvest.

De Horlepiep is the Dutch version of the Sailors’ Hornpipe:

Gort Met Stroop means “grits with syrup.” Very cute dance:

Mazurka voor een Mus means “mazurka for a sparrow.” Kudos on the film editing:

Ronde has courtly 16^th century styling:

Te Haerlem in den Houte means “in the woods of Haerlem.” The music is from the 17^th century:

Zigeunerpolka means “gypsy polka.” The music is very familiar to me. My German parents may have had this on vinyl (or even shellac). It may have originated in northern Germany, but was also danced in the Netherlands.

Bellendans (bells dance) is done to the tune of Jingle Bells. I wish I’d known this dance when I was teaching music in the elementary school. This would have been a good activity for the last day before Winter Break.