Teaching and Planning Committee

THE NORDIC DANCERS’ teachers collectively bring to the group decades of diverse dance experience. For some, this experience includes growing up and dancing in Nordic communities. All the teachers have participated in numerous dance courses and workshops with teachers from the Nordic countries. In addition their enthusiasm for the dances and the accompanying folk traditions strengthens their commitment to keep learning and expanding their own skills and repertoire.

The director of the Nordic Dancers is Chris Kalke. She is assisted by Haven Carlson and Carol Carnahan. The teaching committee also includes Linda Brooks, Monica Fulvio, and Andrew Schneider. Lars Johanson and Anja Chase serve as consulting teachers. Collectively these teachers bring to the group decades of dance experience. This experience includes growing up and dancing in Nordic communities and/or participating in dance courses and workshops with teachers from the Nordic countries. In addition their enthusiasm for the dances and the accompanying folk traditions strengthens their commitment to keep learning and expanding their own skills and repertoire.

Chris Kalke

Chris grew up in Michigan and began dancing as a child with her parents and their friends in the Scandinavian community to the music of the late Per Bengtsson, Erik Nilsson, the hardanger fiddle player Ingvald Orheim, and other local musicians. She danced with the original Hoijakat (now called Nordic Heritage Dancers) of Detroit and Windsor and was one of their teachers. She joined the Nordic Dancers in 1980 and is also a fiddler with Skandal and Washington’s Spelmanslag. Chris has conducted dance workshops in various locations on the east coast and in the Midwest. She earned her silver medal in Swedish polska dancing in 2010.

Mari Carlson

Mari, a Maryland native and violinist since age 3, learned Swedish folk fiddle and dance living in Minnesota for twenty years. Back in the area since 2021, she co-artistically directs the DC Spelmanslag, plays for English country dances, and cultural festivals and events. She teaches violin at the School of Musical Traditions and movement and dance for 0-4 yr olds and their caregivers through three local Music Together centers. In 2026, she trained as a therapeutic musician, accompanying physical therapy sessions and playing bedside for nursing home residents. She also reviews books and makes art for book and album covers - and for fun! Mentored by Paul Carlson (no relation, funnily), she is excited to start her first season with Nordic, fall 2026.

Haven Carlson

Haven got her start folk dancing in 2019 with the Ojczyzna Polish Dancers in Baltimore. In 2022, Haven began attending Scandia DC and joined the Nordic Dancers. She has attended Nordlek since 2024 and earned her bronze medal in Swedish polska dancing in 2025.

Linda Brooks

Linda started doing Scandinavian couple dances during her high school years in California and continued participating in the Scandinavian dance community there until moving to the DC area in 1983. In 1985 she, together with Ross Schipper, founded Scandia DC, a recreational group focusing on couple dances from Norway and Sweden. She and Ross are the primary teachers for that group and have performed and taught at numerous venues including the Kennedy Center Millenium stage. They both have earned their Big Silver medals in Swedish polska dancing and have studied and researched dances in both Norway and Sweden.

Carol Carnahan

Carol started Scandinavian couple dancing in the 1980s. She soon joined the Nordic Dancers of Washington, DC, and then in the 1990 began attending Scandia DC. She has attended dance camps across the US and the Nordic countries, has participated in the Nordlek folk dance and music festival since 2006, and earned her Big Silver medal in Swedish polska dancing in 2017. She is also a fiddler with the Washington Spelmanslag.

Andrew Schneider

Andrew has been a member of the Nordic Dancers since 2009, after a family trip with his girlfriend (now wife) Monica to see his Danish cousins on Fanø failed to yield any trace of the Sønderhoning, the traditional dance of his forebears. He enjoys Danish set dances, has forgotten more dances than he knows, and will make inopportune small talk in the middle of a spin.He attended Nordlek in Viborg; and is a practiced dancer in a variety of styles, including contra, salsa, Irish ceili, and more.

Monica Fulvio

Monica has been dancing with Nordic since 2009, and is the research-happy librarian who got Andrew to join Nordic after their Sønderhoning-free trip to Fanø. She attended Nordlek in Viborg; and is a lifelong dancer - she got her start doing modern liturgical dance as a child - as well as a variety of styles, including contra (where she met Andrew), salsa, Irish ceili, and more.

Anja Chase

Anja Chase grew up in New York City and has been dancing since childhood, learning from her parents and their friends. She learned and performed folk dances as a member of the Finnish Women's Gymnastic Association of New York. She joined the Nordic Dancers in 1982. She has also attended numerous training courses with instructors from Finland as well as workshops with teachers from the other Nordic countries. Anja assists the director with performance planning and organizational details.

Lars Johanson

Lars began dancing in 1955 and danced to the music of the late Walter Eriksson and other Scandinavian musicians at social dances and participated in children's dance groups and adult dance groups in the New York City area before coming to this area. He joined the Nordic Dancers in 1975 and served as director from 1977 to 1995. He was one of the organizers of the Nordic Dancers' participation in the Nordlek Festivals. Lars earned his silver medal in Swedish polska dancing in 2010. He has also participated as an accordionist in the Washington’s Spelmanslag, a group of musicians playing Swedish folk music.

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