Today our dances come from three different Scandinavian countries (in northern Europe).
Norway, a spoon-shaped country, is known as “the land of the midnight sun,” because, due to the tilt of the earth’s axis, during the summer the north pole points directly at the sun, causing the area above the Arctic Circle to have continuous daylight for several weeks on end.
The Norwegians have a beautiful culture, including wonderful folk dances.
Lunden Reinlender:
Linerender (a reinlender reimagined as a four-wall line dance):
Oppdalsril is a flirting dance, with two women competing for a man (or two men for a woman):
I don’t know the name of this dance, but it’s delightful:
And here are some more young dancers doing several Norwegian folk dances. I didn’t catch the names of all the dances, including the first:
at 0:50: Seksmannsril, six person reel
at 2:29: didn’t catch the name
at 4:54: the girl called it “Czechish Polka,” but I know it as Doudlebska Polka, and it is indeed Czech
at 7:14: talking about the costumes in Norwegian and the English
at 8:42: a Swedish dance, but I didn’t catch the name
at 11:04: I heard the name, but I don’t know how to spell it
Now let’s travel on to Finland, which borders on Russia.
I know this dance as Ti Ti Tyy. We do it at Phoenix International Folk Dancers:
This four-wall scatter dance is known as Tokyo Polka, and I love it because the music sounds like video game music. What I didn’t know is that the music is based on a Finnish folk tune (Ievan Polka), the words changed to Japanese nonsense syllables. I think the dance was choreographed by an American, but I don’t know who.
I also like this adapted two-person version:
In this performance of Swedish-Finn Mixer, the dancers high-five each other as they pass. I don’t think that’s usually part of the dance; it must be a variation this group thought up.
Now let’s go to Iceland, a volcanic island between Norway and Greenland.
A vikivaki is a dance usually done to a folk song sung by the dancers. This song is Á Sprengisandi:
This one is Undir bláum sólarsali:
This dance is the “Loom Weave.” It starts out simple enough, but you’ll eventually see the couples weave over and under one another:
If you’ve made it all the way to the end, congratulations! That’s enough folk dancing for today.
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Sticking with it despite numerous rejections is critical to getting published. 15 quick case studies whose names you will recognize. All writers face rejection. It goes with the territory.
Some of the dancers who participated in the 2022 Festival.
The Phoenix International Folk Dance Festival will be held on March 16, 2024 from noon to 4:00 PM at the Washington Activity Center, 2240 W Citrus Way, Phoenix AZ 85015. Free admission. All levels of skill are welcome to participate, so if you’ll be in the Phoenix area, be sure to stop by! Ethnic costumes are encouraged, but not mandatory. In the meantime, here are some of the dances we’ll be doing. Come, it’s fun!
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Sadly, here in the United States, we are not hearing about what is going on in Armenia, due to the crises in Ukraine and Israel. But Armenians are struggling to survive attacks by Azerbijian. Armenia has a beautiful culture, including wonderful folk dances. I’ve posted about Armenian dances before. Here are some more.
Today I’m not going to limit my dance videos to a single country, and I apologize if I’ve posted some of these dances before. I’m just selecting dances that bring me joy.
From France, Branle gai alsacien. Only two patterns. This dance can be done with a lot of energy:
From Bulgaria, Pravo Rhodopsko. Choreographed by the great Ives Moreau, who recently passed away. Only two patterns, and fits the music so well. Beautiful song, unaccompanied women’s voices:
Kreuz König from Germany. Pretty dance. If you’re light enough and your partner is strong enough, you might become airborne:
Tokyo Polka. I am not sure where this dance originated. The music sounds like it’s from a video game. At Phoenix International Folk Dancers, we do it as a four-walls line dance. This couple adapted it into a performance piece for this Christmas party:
Cine are noroc are, from Romania, has special footwork. There are three patterns, and patterns 1 and 3 feature an unusual toe-heel step:
Rumelaj, a Roma dance from Macedonia, is conducive to a little hip action:
Dorozhka, choreographed by Hennie Konings based on Cozzack steps. The music gives me chills:
Road to the Isles from Scotland. I love the turns in this (they’re fun to do!):
Valle Pogonishte from Albania:
Mališevsko Horo, from Bulgaria, choreographed by Gergana Panova, who is leading in this video. This dance is a lot of fun, especially if you are doing it with a group that knows it well and is not afraid to move it along:
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I’ve posted about Israeli dances before, but there are so many beautiful ones, it’s time for some more. We do all of these (and more) at Phoenix International Folk Dancers.
I used to teach Zemer Atik (also known as Nigun Atik) to my students when I taught elementary general music. It starts with the “waiter” pose, left hand palm up on dancer’s own left shoulder as if holding a tray; right hand on the left hand of the dancer to your right. At PIFD we do the claps differently—two quick ones to the right, followed by one to the left. We also snap our fingers when we move toward the center of the circle. I like our way better.
This is the traditional Hineh Ma Tov. (There is a different, more modern dance done to a pop version of the song.)
Hashual means “fox,” and some groups dance this with a person in the center of the circle representing the fox, with the other dancers teasing him.
Ve’ David is a couples/mixer dance.
Shiboleth Basadeh has a lot of changes of direction.
Adir Adiram is a challenging dance. This video was taken at our Phoenix Folk Dance Festival last fall.
Salamati is a vigorous dance with leaps and turns and fancy footwork.
I love the music of Debka Oud—it sounds so exotic.
Harishut may be my favorite Israeli dance of all. A lot of background chatter on this video, sorry.
We sometimes use Erev Ba as a last dance because it’s a little slower. It has beautiful graceful turns.
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Opa! The Greeks are a very passionate people, and it comes through in their dances. I’ve posted about Greek dances before.
Zorba the Greek. I’ve posted about this dance before, but you can never see too many versions of it:
There’s a Greek Orthodox church in the next town from us, and they hold a Greek Festival every year. They have dance groups of all ages that perform, and they also open the floor for everyone to dance. They teach a few steps, and the band plays a million verses of a song, and each musician gets to improvise a solo while the whole community dances. It feels like this—Adanali:
Axi Vaxi is an easy dance with only two patterns:
Kali Tihi means “good luck.” We do this fun dance at Phoenix International Folk Dancers. Here it is led by the choreographer, Lee Otterholt:
Alta es la Luna is based on traditional dance steps used by Sephardic Jews in Greece. This is another dance we do at PIFD:
Amoliti Gaida is a spirited dance with a lot of hopping and deep knee bends for the men:
Karagouna is another favorite we do at PIFD, but we don’t do the “look left, look right” as in this version (but I like that very much!):
Hassapiko Mozart is another PIFD favorite. You may recognize a little bit of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 (“It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a Mozart,” as we used to sing in music school while studying for a listening test). Choreographed by Ira Weisburd using traditional Greek hassapiko steps.
Ziglos involves a lot of arm swinging:
Gerakina looks familiar to me; I think we learned it at PIFD:
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Over the years, I’ve relied on Folk Dance Musings to help me learn folk dances and prepare to lead them. I also refer to the website whenever I prepare another installment of my I’d Rather Be Dancing series on ARHtistic License.
Andrew Carnie, the creator of Folk Dance Musings, agreed to an interview for ARHtistic License. I think you’ll agree that what he has to say about folk dancing is interesting and enlightening.
ARHtistic License: Do you teach at the University of Arizona?
Andrew Carnie: Yes, I’m a professor of linguistics at U of A. I am a syntactician – that means I study how the mind processes and produces the sentences of a language. I specialize in the syntax of the Celtic languages, particularly Scottish Gaelic and Irish. My work is largely around principles governing patterning in grammatical systems, which I think is why I’m so fascinated by folk dance and folk dance description. Folk dances are also governed by principles of pattern and form.
I got my BA (hons) from the University of Toronto and my Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I’ve taught at the University of Calgary, University California Santa Cruz, University of Michigan, Harvard and at MIT. I’ve been at the University of Arizona since 1998. From 2012 to 2022,S I was the Dean of the Graduate College and the Vice Provost for Graduate Education.
In addition to my linguistics classes, I also teach a General Education class for freshmen in the dance department which is an introduction to Folk Dances of Europe and the Middle East. I’ve been teaching it for 3 years now and it’s very popular.
AL: How long have you been dancing?
AC: When my parents immigrated to Canada from Scotland in the late 1960s, my mother joined the local Scottish Country Dance club. I was brought along from the start. I’m not sure exactly when I started SCD, but there are pictures of me as a pre-teen dancing. I also did highland dancing as a teenager – my knees can’t do that any more.
My first exposure to international folk dancing came when I was around 16. A friend who was a student at the University of Calgary took me to the international dance club on Campus. The first dance I learned was Arap. I was an instant convert and have been going to folk dancing as often as I can wherever I am in the world.
AL: What is it about folk dancing that you love?
I’m a pattern guy. I love figuring out patterns in things. Folk dancing of all kinds is filled with patterns. But I’m also a big fan of different rhythms and cool music. A great tune will transport me. I find that if I’ve had a hard day at work, an evening of folk dancing calms me, revives me and raises my spirits.
AL: Do you do other styles of dancing besides folk dance?
AC: As I mentioned above, I started with Scottish Country Dancing and Highland Dancing. I’ve also dabbled in Contra dancing, Square dancing and Clogging.
AL: What are your favorite dances?
AC: There are too many to mention. Good music and a pattern that make you “fly” are often favorites. My personal favorites are dances from Macedonia and Albania, but I like all kinds of dances.
AL: How do you learn dances?
I’m a visual learner. I often don’t stand up during the teaching of a dance, I just watch, and then I can do it. I know many people need to feel the dance by repeatedly doing it. I rarely do this except when a step is exceptionally hard. People are often surprised when I stand up and do a dance after watching. They’ll say “have you done this one before?” Nope, I just prefer watching to learn. It drives some teachers nuts.
Photo by Annie Spratt via Unsplash
AL: Do you usually dance to live music or recordings?
AC: In Tucson we normally dance to recorded music largely due to our wide ranging repertoire. However we do have a couple of local bands that play for us occasionally which is a special treat.
AL: Have you traveled to some of the countries whose dances you’ve danced? Have you ever danced abroad?
AC: When I travel abroad, I often travel for work which means going to Scotland and Ireland. I’ve done Ceilidh/Ceilí dancing in both places.
AL: Do you have any ethnic costumes you like to wear for dancing?
AC: When I performed with Vinovana, Mandala and TEDE I had a full range of stage costumes. Sadly most of these don’t fit anymore. I do have a kilt that still fits that I can use for family events and formal occasions. But for most evenings of dancing I wear the IFD ethnic costume of a T-shirt and sweatpants!
AL: What sort of footwear do you prefer for folk dancing?
AC: Because of injuries to my knees, I now mostly wear sneakers. These don’t always work well on Marley floors which are found in many dance studios, so I wear glides (little socks) on the toes to help with turning and twisting.
Photo by Dimitris Vetsikas via Pixabay
AL: Do you ever go to dance workshops or dance camp?
AC: For many years my work has really prevented me from traveling to workshops and camps. So I’ve been restricted to local workshops here in Tucson and a few up in Phoenix, when instructors travel through. Over the past 10 years we’ve had small local workshops with Shlomo Bachar, Tineke and Maurits van Geel, Elena Dimitrova, Joe Graziosi, Lee Otterholt and Iliana Bozhanova.
Ironically the pandemic and virtual workshops and camps have been an amazing resource for me. The past 3 years, I’ve been lucky enough to attend virtual Laguna, Stockton, Texas, June Camp, Mainewoods, Kolo Festival, Door County and more. I’ve also been able to attend virtual workshops given by the Eastern European Folk Life Center, LIFE Balkan in LA, and the New England Folk Arts Center. Instructors I’ve been privileged to take online classes from Alex Markovic, Steve and Susie Kotansky, Michael Ginsburg, Joe Graziosi, Ahmet Lüleci, Sonia Dion and Cristian Florescu, Yves and France Moreau, Mihai David, Alexandru David, Tom Bozigian, Aaron Alpert, Alix Cordray, Roo Lester, Andy Taylor, Bata Marčetić, Ben Koopmanschap, Bianca de Jong, Caspar Bik, Erica Goldman, Franklin Houston, Gary and Susan Lind-Sinanian, Genci Kastrati, Gergana Panova, Ira Weisburd, Janet Reinek, Jan Pumpr, Jitka Bonušova, John Filcich, Kyriakos Moisides, Yianni and Simo Konstantino, Penny Brichta, Richard Powers, Rena Karyofylldou, Roberto Bagnoli, Šani Rafiti, Sevy Bayraktar, Shmulik Gov Ari, Vlasto Pekovski, Yanni Economou, Yvonne Hunt, Željko Jergan and more! I never would have been able to attend in-person classes with all these fabulous instructors, so the shift to virtual dance teaching was a blessing in disguise for the richness of my folk dance life.
AL: Do you have any favorite dance instructors or choreographers?
AC: Folk dancing is blessed with many excellent teachers and instructors – see the above list. But my favorites are Steve Kotansky and Yves Moreau. Both of whom are not only masters at choosing material that IFD audiences will love, but are scholars of the dances they teach and bring more than the footwork to the dance floor.
AL: Have you choreographed any dances?
Yes, and there’s a few that have even caught on in various places. Here’s a list.
AL: Tell me about your dance group.
AC: There are three international folk dance groups in Tucson.
The group I run is the Shala Folk Dance Club that meets at “Movement Culture” in midtown Tucson. The group started as a class in 2001 at the YMCA, but we eventually moved on to our own identity. This is probably the largest group in town. We have a beginner to intermediate focus. It’s also the only group that’s now hybrid. In addition to our in-person class, people can join us from all over the world via Zoom. We regularly have dancers from DC and southern California who join us virtually. The Shala club meets on Tuesdays 7-9 PM. For those that want to join virtually, use this link.
There’s one group in town that I’ve only ever been able to join on special occasions because they meet on Friday mornings when I’m at work. Ironically this one is the one that meets closest to my home! This group was founded by Harvey Gardner and is now run by Shirley Hauck and Raven Siva and it meets at Sun City in Oro Valley. This group is more beginner focused and every dance is taught (or at least reviewed).
Finally, we have the Tucson Folk Dance Club which meets on Monday afternoons also at Movement Culture. This group, which was founded by Bill and Karen Faust as a University Club back in 1963. It is in its 60th year! Bill and Karen, along with Nancy Bannister, run this group.
We also have the university general education class, but this class is only open to enrolled University of Arizona students. But we have an enthusiastic group of 18-22 year olds who are learning to love folk dancing. This class is taught by me, Nancy Bannister and Shirley Hauck.
Some participants of the Phoenix International Folk Dance Festival in 2015
AL: What advice do you have for someone who wants to learn folk dancing?
AC: Folk dancing is for everyone — all ages and abilities. It’s about community and it’s about developing social connections. I think a lot of people, especially men, have fear of starting dancing or dance classes because they won’t be skillful. But I think the best kept secret about folk dancing is that for most people, it isn’t about skill or performance but about developing interpersonal contact through the medium of movement.
AL: What advice do you have for someone who wants to teach or lead folk dancing?
AC: I think my first piece of advice is “know your audience”. Are you teaching 20 year olds or 60-80 year olds? Choose your material appropriately. What goes over well with the over-50 crowd may not cut it with the younger dancer. Second, I’d recommend understanding the structure of the dance before you start to teach it: How many parts does it have? How many measures are there in each part? How many beats are there in each measure? Third, I’d be really careful about terminology. For example, are you doing a stamp (no weight) or a stomp (takes weight). When you say turn R, do you mean turn by the R hand or do you mean make a clockwise turn? Etc. Fourth, choose good music. Many of us fell in love with the old crackly and crunchy tunes from 78s recorded at the beginning of the last century, but those aren’t necessarily the best recordings to dance to or to bring people into the world of folk dances. When teaching beginners I always try to find high quality sound files with sounds and rhythms that are accessible. Only later do I introduce slightly more esoteric meters and recordings. Finally, make sure you emphasize the fun. I’d prefer to dance with a dancer who is doing the dance slightly wrong, but is having a blast than with a dancer who is paying so much attention to the detail about getting the style right that they forget to actually dance and forget they are dancing with people. Folk dancing is about community.
Sacred Circle Dance is a worldwide movement originating from the work of Professor Bernhard Wosien, a German ballet instructor and Master Teacher at Munich University. He believed that our earliest and most profound impulse to replicate the creative powers that we sensed within ourselves and our world was through movement. These early “dances” enabled us to identify with the eternal round of creative force in the cosmos while acknowledging the rhythms and cycles of nature and daily life in community. He traveled extensively throughout Europe seeking to retrieve and preserve these early dance forms, specifically in the small, often oppressed villages that continued to hold the dances as sacred. He referred to his work as “Heilige Tanze” or the highest or holy form of dance.
Sacred Circle Dance offers an integrative approach to healing, relaxation and to some, a deeply moving spiritual experience. It differs from folk dance through the sacred intention that is held for each dance. In circles, lines and spirals we join hands to learn simple village dances to traditional, folk, classical and world music. Through our dancing, energy is activated. We consciously intend this energy to heal ourselves, one another, our planet earth and the people, places and situations throughout the world in need of healing grace. Each dance offers its individual blessing and we open to receive it. It is believed the impulse to dance is encoded in our DNA. When we dance in Sacred Circles the encoded message is activated, we remember. Sacred/Circle Dance is used as a healing modality to diverse populations throughout the world in many health and holistic settings.
In studying the information online about sacred circle dances, I’m finding that they are practiced among many traditions, including Asian Indian spirituality, Wicca, churches, and Jewish temples. The dances often promote meditation. Some of the dances are also done by international folk dance enthusiasts, but somewhat differently, because they’ve been adapted for sacred circles. Often an arrangement of plants, flowers, and/or candles is placed in the center of the floor to dance around.
Here are some dances practiced by sacred circle dance groups.
This Welcome Song borrows from Native American tradition:
Omonoia is a Greek song that references a square in Athens where refugees gather; it’s about the plight of Syrian refugees in Greece. The dance was choreographed by Leslie Laslett.
The song Tanulo Eno was written by Ugandan songwriter Samite Mulando. The choreography is by Stefan Freedman in the USA/British sacred circle tradition.
The music for Isolation is a Russian hymn. It was choreographed by Leslie Laslett in response to the quarantine protocol during the Covid19 pandemic. The arms-out posture refers to personal distancing.
The music for La Vida Total comes from Chile. It was choreographed by Pablo Scornik in the Inca style.
São como os meus comes to us from Brazil, choreographed by Lena Mouzinho.
Scarves aren’t mandatory for Wind on the Tor, but they’re a nice touch:
Bajo la luna del Cuervo, also known as Beneath the Raven Moon. Choreography by Pablo Scornik:
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