This Saturday about 11 of us (out of our class of 20) gathered in the salon to play music and dance. It was really nice; photos are below.

I have been doing Swedish dance for over 11 years, usually learning at week-long or weekend Scandinavian dance camps, as well as hour-long workshops every month. Going through the Uppdansning program has improved my dancing tremendously, with a focus on a few dances each year, perfected at a week-long training camp with Leif and Margareta Virtanen, and with Stig and Helen prior to Uppdansning performances. The focus has been on learning specific kinds of polskas from specific villages or regions. Examples are Polska från Boda, Polska från Älvdalen, Bondpolska från Viksta, etc.

The dance teaching at the ESI is different. Here the emphasis is on a very organic way of teaching dance movement so that the body movements become very conscious as well as efficient and with the right energy. It involves a lot of walking to music, paying attention to different aspects of the movement. We focus on response to the music, hearing and responding to the main pulse, the secondary pulse or pulses (or beats), the mechanics of body movement, the interaction and communication with the partner, and hearing and changing on the musical phrases. It is very well suited to the year-long format of the dance course.

For musicians, we join the dancers in dance class one day every other week. It is a major tenet of the course that musicians benefit from knowing the dances. Dancers also take music theory and play an instrument, and we all sing together in regular singing classes, so it works both directions. Our first two dance times all together we worked on schottis. It was interesting taking many hours to listen to and walk to the music, and really think about it. It took the entire first day to begin the turn. Two weeks later we completed the turn! I now have a much higher comfort level with leading schottis, as we took both roles during our days of schottis.

We also had an hour of playing for the dancers in a joint class. We went through a series of exercises using Lasse Leile Diu, a slängpolska tune taught to us by Mia Marin. Mia taught this exercise together with Andreas Berchtold, using this progression of steps:

1. First we musicians played and the dancers danced individually to our music. Then we discussed our observations from each perspective.
2. We played and they danced as couples to our music. We could feel that their focus was more on each other and less on us. But we also noticed more interesting dancing when they added their interactions as couples.
3. Each dancer was then paired up with a specific musician to focus on (and vice versa) and we played again. It was fascinating how different we sounded during this exercise, much lighter, and we listened better to each other. We also got practice in watching dancers while playing.
4. We then all focused on one designated dancer while playing. We did this a couple of times with a few different dancers and it felt and sounded different depending on which dancer we were focused on. The dancers enjoyed controlling our volume and feel, and starting and stopping us with their dancing.
5. Then we focused on one dancer, and then switched to another dancer. They were doing individual slängpolska, and did a round couple turn to switch to the next person. It was fascinating hearing the differences in the sound within the tune.
6. Then they began dancing minuet and we switched to a minuet tune and repeated some of these exercises.

It was a fascinating exercise and we all felt that we had a much deeper understanding of the musician-dancer communication. It was also a thoroughly satisfying experience.

There is of course an abundance of Swedish folk dancing in Sweden.

1. Thursdays, every other or so – The Eric Sahlström Institute has the ToboTorsdag series. Every other Thursday (or so) during the fall-winter-spring the ESI hosts a short concert, fika, and dance. Various groups, from small ensembles to large spelmanslag groups with 30 musicians come and play. The concert begins at 7 PM and lasts about an hour, fika about half an hour, and then the musicians are joined by anyone with an instrument to play for dancing. Dancing lasts until around 10, with a tradition of ending each evening with Eric Sahlström’s Spelmansglädje. These are very nice evenings. A few couples attend regularly, and our class of 20 students is usually represented.
2. Thursdays – Polskedansarna http://www.polskedansarna.se has dances every Thursday, at Hägerstensåsens medborgarhus, Riksdalervägen 2-4. There are some photos of a recent workshop (October 30, 2014) with David and Mikael Eriksson teaching Orsa Polska and Schottis från Ovanmyra, and they have taught there many times previously. The website lists upcoming dances here and for the Friday group. I haven’t visited this group yet.
3. Thursdays in Uppsala – philochoros studenternas folkdansförening is a student organization at the Uppsala University. They have a variety of events, including dance teaching from 7:30-9:30 on Thursdays at the V-Dala Nation building near the University. There is also a beginner course during the school year on Wednesdays. They have special events as well, and I have been visiting this group.
4. Fridays – At the location Hägerstensåsens medborgarhus, Riksdalervägen 2-4, dances some Friday evenings are hosted by the group malparingen.se. I visited this dance shortly after this entry was originally posted; here is an update. On November 28th they featured the Southern Swedish dance Hamburska. It was taught by Peo and Åsa Jacobsson, with Ulf Lundgren playing fiddle. A very nice group of experienced dancers worked on the dance the entire evening, with a 30 minute fika. There were about 20-24 people, equal numbers of men and women the night I attended, and frequent changes of partner.
5. Skansen has dances in the summer.
6. Sundays, biweekly — It is my great privilege to have joined Östgötamix in Norrköping. This is a group of about 40 experienced dancers led by Helen and Stig Eriksson for over 20 years. They meet every other Sunday from 4-7 PM September-May. They have a unique “mix” where each dance is done 3 times, starting with a short review and/or teaching of the dance, then doing it, then moving up to the next partner for the next time. Sometimes there is further explanation of the dance between iterations. I really like getting to dance with everyone, and working on each dance 3 times per dance. Stig programs a variety of different dances and tunes for a very enjoyable afternoon. Everything is of course all in Swedish, but this is getting easier for me. We stop for a 30 minute fika to rest and chat and refresh during the 3 hour period, and end with a hambo mixer, and then a circle with joined intertwined hands to do a “check-in” and wish each other goodnight and sleep well. Here is an example of a recent program of dances: Hoppa Köna från Bergsjö, Hälsingland, Busserull från Norge, Polska från Rättvik, Bakmes och pols i turer från Idre, Hambo från Svartnäs, Gästrikland, Polska och bakmes från Mattmar, Polska från Boda, Hambo med bakmes från Loos, Hälsingland. I really enjoy participating in this group, to be with Stig and Helen and all the really nice people and good dancers, and how much it recharges my spirit to attend this group. It is a bit of a schlep from Tobo, but totally worth it. 
7. Sundays – Skeppis – There are dances every Sunday evening in Stockholm on the island of Skepsholmen at the Folkhögskola, from September though May. It is an old 17th century building full of dance and music spaces and wood floors, and a café. Admission is free. In addition to some concurrent dance workshops beginning at 6 PM, musicians gather to sing or learn and play tunes. Activities continue until midnight or they run out of musicians to play or dancers to dance. http://www.folkmusikhuset.se/en/index.html . I have been to one of these dances and it was really delightful, with good energy and I was able to readily find very good partners and enjoy some good dancing. They have a variety of music, with people signing up for 30 minute slots all evening to play for dance. The downside is it is far from Tobo. I left the dance at 10:30 PM and got home at 1 AM one Sunday evening, and was really dragging in classes the next day.
8. Tobo Tisdag! Our group at the ESI has been gathering in the dance salon to play for each other and dance, on an informal basis on Tuesday evenings. Very exclusive! We have gotten less regular lately, but this has been a really good thing.

Many of us went to Oktoberstämma in Uppsala, this year with an amazing concert celebrating 25 years of the group Väsen, my favorite group.

Oktoberstämma is an annual gathering of folk musicians and dancers numbering usually about 1300. It takes place on a Saturday in October and lasts from noon to 1 AM. It is an amazing hubbub of concurrent concerts and dances in 4 venues in a big concert hall, plus informal jamming in the many hallways and corners of the very large building like a conference center.

I participated in a 20 minute concert by this year’s Eric Sahlström Institute musicians, 6 out of the 9 of us. We then were joined by about 14 former students for Härjedalsschottis. (I got to announce this tune and the additional people coming on stage. I managed one sentence in Swedish!) After the schottis we exited and the former students’ group played for 35 minutes, then we joined again for a final tune. It was a really fun experience and went well.

After that I went around to various events, found things to eat, and with my nyckelharpa walked around and found a group or two to join that were playing tunes I knew. There was a Boda polska workshop with way too many people. There is the old joke about the dance venue in Boda with the Boda Spelmanslag, that there is only room for forsteg (the beginning step where you walk forward), not for the turn. It was almost true of this dance workshop.

The Väsen concert was beyond wonderful. The concert hall was full of people (it holds 1100 people) and excitement. First Olov Johansson, Roger Tallroth, and Mikael Marin came out and played a series of favorite tunes, then they began inviting guests to join. It was so interesting to see and hear their drummer André Ferrari, who doesn’t travel or tour, and see and hear tunes that I hadn’t seen them perform in the 4 concerts I have seen in the US as a trio. They were also joined by LinnéDansarna, a wonderful group of 6 dancers, two of whom I know through the ESI. Additional guests were JPP (Finland), Lena Willemark, Norrbotten Big Band, and Trio X. They also showed video tributes from various folks. The overall happy feeling was palpable.

I felt very privileged to be in the audience (5^th row!) for this concert. And very privileged to now know Olov Johansson and be studying with him almost every week this year with a small group of 9 musician-students. Olov is such a wonderful musician and teacher and human (as are our other teachers, Ditte Andersson and Sonia Sahlström).

 

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/267995080066239/?pnref=lhc.recent

http://ukk.se/Konserter/Kalendarium/2014/Oktoberstamman/

These links above have information about the events.

We had our first concert this last week, on October 23rd. It was an amazing experience, really a didactic exercise by the teachers. It deepened our understanding of many elements of presenting folk music.

It also united our class in working together. We put together the tune list, figured out which tunes we would all play together, and who would play which tunes in smaller groups. Then we worked with the teachers to create arrangements of some of the tunes, how many times we would play each A and B part, when the harmonies would be added, addition of accompaniment elements or riffs, loud, soft, etc. There was a lot of practicing.

Then the teachers worked with us on thinking through entrances, exits, announcement of the tunes and telling any stories, instrument changes. Then we practiced it all over several days, and we got better and better.

We were pretty happy with how it came out. It was a really nice evening. We had some sets for dancing afterward. I reserved time for an “allspel”.

I was really happy to have my friend Ginny Lee come for the concert and dancing. She was in Sweden at just the right time.

 

Thanks to Meghan Mella for the photographs!

A lot of us are knitting here, and I finally completed these mittens, started long ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The underneath part of the thumb says “dala” on one side (for Dalarna) and “häst” on the other (horse). The pattern had spelled it “hest” so I corrected it.

Here is the Ravelry link: http://ravel.me/scandance/dusan

 

 

 

 

There are many beautiful and decorative touches at our Institute done by Stina, who makes our wonderful food. We continue to enjoy each other and our life at the Institute. We are working hard on our concert for this Thursday evening.

 

I tried to contact Jews in Sweden via the Union for Progressive Judaism website, but the contact listed there bounced. The contact in Stockholm referred me to someone in Uppsala, with the caveat that they may no longer be active, and I never heard back from them. The email contact person in Stockholm was gracious about providing me a ticket at no charge to attend there, so I went to The Great Synagogue in Stockholm for Erev Rosh Hashanah and Rosh Hashanah morning (and again for Kol Nidre). I really needed the ticket; security to get near or into the synagogue was very tight. Nobody greeted or spoke to me. I smiled at various people, and babies. I did eventually find someone who said Shanah Tovah to me on the way out. The security people clearly recognized me on subsequent visits; there was no second interrogation or need to show my passport.

 

The service was conservative, a tenor cantor chanted all the Hebrew text while the congregation sat passively. There was a small volunteer choir with a very limited role, up in the balcony. Music was very limited in all the services I attended, including Kol Nidre. Men and women did sit together, but there were many women up in the balcony. People came and went throughout the service, and there was a children’s corner with toys and books at the back of the sanctuary. Children of all ages were there with their parents, running around and playing. That informality was nice, especially with such a stern congregation. There was no oneg after the Erev Rosh Hashanah service, no sweet new year with apples and honey! So I went nearby and bought some kladdkaka , which was delicious.

 

 

 

They did announce some page numbers in Swedish and English. There was a female rabbi who did all the Torah chanting and gave the sermon in Swedish. Another rabbi (?) did all the shofar blowing, which was clearly very taxing.

The only thing that reached me in a meaningful way was the shofar blowing. I’m glad I heard that. I missed our group of shofar blowers around the sanctuary; I like the community element. I really missed being with the Micah choir and clergy and friends in the congregation.

I went back for Kol Nidre, but didn’t feel like going back for Yom Kippur. So I created my own day of fasting and reading and writing in my journal in my room at the institute. I re-read Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation by Alan Lew, thanks to immediate Kindle download. I was able to have a more meaningful and spiritual day, and was no more lonely than I would have been had I gone to the Stockholm synagogue. It was my birthday, which was another strange element to the day. I don’t remember another Yom Kippur on my birthday. But I had a good day.

This experience taught me how important it is to connect to people at synagogue. If the Stockholm synagogue were my only Jewish choice, I doubt I would attend. The fact that Temple Micah visits are always rewarding and I get something meaningful each time brings me back to Micah again and again. It is my special relationship with the people and community at Temple Micah that I love.