I was thrilled to be asked to be the featured dance musician at our monthly Scandinavian dance in Greenbelt, MD. I did this for the first time in November 2018.
The dance evenings are structured with a rehearsal for any musicians who want to show up, from 7-8 PM. This runs concurrently with the dance instruction. Tune lists and transcriptions and recordings are posted on the website http://www.scandiadc.info so that musicians can prepare ahead of time. The group of musicians is called the Spelmannslag (using the Norwegian spelling). My tune list is below.
November 2018 (Sonia White leading Spelmannslag)
Vol. VIII – No. 3: Schottis från Haverö: Schottis
Vol. VI – No. 13: Pols fra Brekken: Rørospols
Vol. I – No. 6: Ore-valsen: Vals
Vol. X – No. 2: Polska efter Strom Erik: Gammalpolska från Föllinge
Vol. I – No. 14: Hambo på logen: Hambo
Vol. X – No. 33: Nerifra: Bingsjö Polskor
Vol. I – No. 12: Sommervals: Vals
Vol. X – No. 30: Polska efter Kristian Oskarsson: Klackpolska
I was very gratified to have a strong turnout for the rehearsal. This included members from the Washington’s Spelmanslag that I co-lead. It was great to have cross-over between the different groups in our area that play Scandinavian music. Everyone was very well prepared, which made the rehearsal fun. At the end of our hour-long rehearsal we went downstairs in the Greenbelt Community Center and played those tunes for the dancers. It is a very special experience for a musician to play with dancers swirling around you, and to see and feel the interaction between musicians and dancers. This dance had a strong turnout of enthusiastic dancers and a wonderful energy was felt by all.
November 2018 Group Photo at Scandia DC
After the group photo and break for snacks and announcements, my former student Laura Hummel and I played the next set:
| Dance | Tune |
| SCHOTTIS (Mixer: Bugg Schottis) | Schottis e Anders Dahl |
| SLÄNGPOLSKA eller Bingsjö | Polska efter Sven Donat |
| LILLHÄRDAL (Polketeering, Hambo, Bakmes) * | Polska #21 efter Olof Löfgren i Sveg |
| HAMBO *** | Myrvilles Hambo |
| BODA POLSKA | Maka er du Britta |
| SNOA *** | Snoa_Boda_spelmanslag |
| FINNSKOGSPOLS * | Fanteladda |
Playing with Laura for dancers
After some recorded music for Norwegian tunes on Hardingfele, Laura and I played Klockar Andersson’s Vals for a mixer, then I played solo:
| ORSA POLSKA | Systerpolska no. 2 |
| HAMBO | Vigers Polska från Jarvsjö |
| NORSKLEITJEN from FÖLLINGE | Polska efter Olof Olsson, Slätten |
| SCHOTTIS | Lana-villes Schottis |
| VALS | Idioten från Enviken |
After attending this dance as a dancer for over 12 years it was very exciting to be asked to be the featured musician and lead the spelmanslag for an evening. I loved doing it, and am happy I will be doing this again as soon as November 2019. In the meantime, I am happily dancing at third Saturday ScandiaDC dances.