Seattle's Skandia Folkdance Society is a non-profit, volunteer run, educational and cultural organization founded in 1949. Skandia has a number of purposes that guide its activities which include:
Document and preserve the traditional dances and music of the Nordic lands (namely, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden);
Conduct educational programs and activities that will promulgate knowledge of and promote interest in these art forms;
Provide competent instruction in traditional Nordic dancing; and
Foster the use of authentic Nordic music, both live and recorded, in all Society activities.
Each of these starts with a brief description and some include a drop down with more information.
The close partner holds in Scandinavian dancing meant that we could not dance during the COVID pandemic. However, we had the First and Third Friday “dances” online every month, and they started with some teaching where you could dance by yourself or with a partner. This teaching covered dances that could be done at home.
Now that we're back to in-person dances, Skandia offers many opportunities to learn and dance. Most of the dances are from Sweden and Norway, and some are from Denmark and Finland. Skandia has many excellent dance teachers.
Here are some of the dance opportunities available at different times. Check the Skandia website http://skandia-folkdance.org/classes.html for more information.
The Basics Dance Class near the UW for beginners. This covers how to turn and dance with a partner, as well as basic dances such as Schottis, Waltz, Snoa, Hambo, Rørospols, Slängpolska, and mixers. No need to come with a partner since we change partners frequently. We encourage students and non-students to attend; no connection to Scandinavia is needed. It is a friendly and welcoming group and people can try it out any time. Free!
The Intermediate Dance Class at the Phinney Neighborhood Center is on Wednesday evenings. This class allows people to learn more of the commonly-done dances and practice their skills.
The Scandinavian Village Dance Class at the Phinney Neighborhood Center is on Thursday evenings. This class covers even more dances, which are intermediate to advanced.
The First and Third Friday Dances start with an hour of teaching. Then you can practice the dance taught as well as lots of other dances. Many basic dances are done, so even beginners can have fun.
Skandia also has workshops, special events, and the yearly Springdans weekend in April, with local, national, or Scandinavian teachers. There are also Scandinavian dances at the Swedish Club and in Tacoma. Seattle has a wonderful and encouraging dance community; this is a great place to learn dances and make friends.
Skandia’s Movement and Dance Retention (MDR) Program provided Zoom-based dance classes for its members and guests during the pandemic. The teaching program was designed to help members remember and retain dances, improve understanding of dance fundamentals, learn new dances, and retain dance fitness by providing opportunities to do dance-based movements to music from the Nordic lands. Most sessions were suitable for members who only had a small space to move/dance in and who may not have had a partner available.
Skandia's Events Committee produces the First and Third Friday Virtual Dances, and other widely appealing events involving Nordic dance and music outside of Skandia's regular activities. During the pandemic years, this committee served as one support system for online programming for Skandia, both in terms of event production and tech know-how. The Committee works closely with Skandia's Music Committee and Dance Committee, as well as collaborating with community partners.
The Music Committee enriches the musical life of members of the Skandia Folkdance Society. We schedule the musicians for our First and Third Friday Dances, schedule the monthly jam sessions, and work with the Events Committee to set up workshops and concerts with visiting musicians. In addition, we produce the annual Skandia Spelmanstämma (musician's gathering), and help with the production of the annual Skandia Ball. We produce the four-CD set of Allspel tunes so that musicians can learn a common repertoire of dance music for the Seattle area. We can be contacted by emailing music@skandia-folkdance.org.
We encourage musicians to become Skandia members, who make up a community that shares a common love for music and dancing of the Scandinavian countries. Skandia was founded in the early 1950s by Gordon Tracie, and traditions are kept alive today as a result of many talented members who have travelled to Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland bringing back and sharing the music and dances they have learned. These members have hosted workshops and special dance instruction to all who are interested. We have further been able to bring expert musicians from these countries to further instruct our community. Our members are continually informed of opportunities for continued instruction at either free or reduced prices. One of the biggest benefits comes from the joy of playing music and dancing with others who share a common interest in the Scandinavian culture. Families are welcome and often the children find the music and dancing to be something that they would like to do.
Instruments
The most common instrument played for our dancing is undoubtedly the violin; however a wide variety of instruments are also used. Guitar, flute, recorder, accordion, pump organ, piano, clarinet, hardanger fiddle, nyckelharpa, brass instruments, lur, kohorn, doumbek and voice have all been used at our dances. We invite musicians of any kind to join us and have fun!
Learning tunes
The best resource for learning tunes is probably other Skandia musicians; however a close second is the Skandia Allspel CD set. It is a very handy resource, and you will find that many of these tunes are quite popular both in Scandinavia and elsewhere around the world. See Allspel CDs below to discover what they include and where to purchase them.
Musicians can join the Seattle Skandia Spelmanslag http://skandia-folkdance.org/spelmanslag/), an open-membership ensemble for anyone interested in playing Scandinavian music and learning the common repertoire of the Seattle / PNW region. Coming to the monthly -- now virtual -- jam sessions is another way to pick up tunes and meet musicians. See Regular Jams below and learn how to join a jam.
Allspel CDs
This set of four CDs is an invaluable resource for anyone wanting to join the fun in the Seattle area. You can purchase them on the Skandia website (http://www.skandia-folkdance.org). Each CD has tunes (and harmonies) played by local musicians, plus historical (from Skandia's earlier days) and modern transcriptions of all the tunes.
These CDs contain the tunes that are most commonly played by all the musicians in this area. Skandia members enjoy dancing to all of these tunes. Come to a dance and play some tunes and dance some dances!
Regular Jams
We host once a month jams on the first Saturday of every month from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm Pacific Time. Email music@skandia-folkdance.org for more information!
The Midsommarfest Big Jam!
Even during Covid, the Midsommar jam session was record-breaking on Zoom! We had five special tune leaders selected in advance. Both the tunes and notes were posted for as many of them as possible a few days before the jam so musicians had a chance to practice up beforehand.
Springdans Northwest is Skandia Folkdance Society’s April residence dance camp held at Seabeck Conference Center near Seattle, Washington. Over four days, participants immerse themselves in Scandinavian folk traditions, while expert instructors teach dances and music at a pace that encourages learning.
There’s another reason to come to Springdans besides great teaching—the rollicking evening dances! Musicians from Scandinavia team up with fine folk musicians from the U.S., Canada, and abroad to play spirit-soaring music.
Comfortable accommodations include rooms with private and shared bathrooms (and even bed linens, and toiletries) To keep participants fueled, the center provides three tasty meals in its full-service dining hall and healthy snacks for classes.
Springdans started up again in 2022. Stay tuned to Skandia’s Web site for more information on future camps (www.skandia-folkdance.org) or better yet, become a Skandia member and receive the newsletter. Once at the Web site, click on “About” then “Membership” for an application.
Camp fills up and we always have a waiting list (especially for follows), so be sure to register early.
We look forward to seeing you at our next camp!
Springdans Directors:
Don Meyers
Peter Michelsen
Judy Patterson
Kathi Ploeger
Jerry Walsh
Slide show with music over the years.
Skandia instructors show Rørospols, Slängpolska, Springleik fra Vågå, Bingsjpölska and Finnskogspols, taught at Springans NW. This Slängpolska is just one of many different slängpolskas found in Sweden. The snoa, schottis, and waltz include variations on the basic dances.
1993 SWEDEN - Jämtland
Göran and Inger Karlholm, dance instructors
Mats and Ulf Andersson, musicians
1994 NORWAY - Sunnfjord
Hilde Bjørkum and Leon Årdal, dance instructors
Sigmund Eikås and Elisabet Eikås, musicians
1995 SWEDEN - Dalarna
Britt-Mari Westholm and Bengt Mård, dance instructors
Olle Wallman and Karin Thörn, musicians
1996 SWEDEN
Bo Peterzon and Ing-Britt Dahlström, dance instructors
Brodd Leif Andersson and Erik Köpmanns, musicians
1997 NORWAY - Vågå, Gudbrandsdal
Tor and Randi Stallvik, dance instructors
Ivar Odnes and Leif-Inge Schølberg, musicians
1998 SWEDEN
Leif and Margareta Virtanen, dance instructors
Åke Steinholz and Peter Westerlund, musicians
1999 SWEDEN
Tommy and Ewa Englund, dance instructors
Bengt Jonsson and Karin Thörn, musicians
2000 NORWAY - Valdresspringar
Mary and Olav Jørgen Hegge, dance instructors
Karin Code, hardingfele, class musician
SWEDEN (and Norway)
Thomas Westling and Marit Larsen, musicians
2001 SWEDEN – Värmland
Sven and Britt-Marie Olsson, dance instructors
Mats Berglund and Karin Olsson, musicians
2002 NORWAY - Valdresspringar
Mary and Olav Jørgen Hegge, dance instructors
Elizabeth Foster, class musician
SWEDEN
Fredrick Lundberg, musician
2003 SWEDEN
Stig and Helen Eriksson, dance instructors
Bo Larsson and Cajsa Ekstav. musicians
2004 SWEDEN – Föllinge, Jämtland
Berit Bertilsdotter and Jan-Gunnar “Palle” Paglert, dance instructors
Agneta Wiberg-Hällström and Anders Hällström, musicians
2005 SWEDEN
Britt-Mari Westholm and Bengt Mård, dance instructors
Jenny Bergman and Karin Thörn, musicians
2006 NORWAY - Hallingspringar
Ulf-Arne Johannessen dance instructor
Olav Mjelva, musician
SWEDEN - Dalarna
Jon Holmén and Jonas Brandin, musicians
2007 SWEDEN- Jämtland
Els-Mari Frisk and Per Olov Pettersson, dance instructors
Mats Andersson and Ulf Andersson, musicians
2008 NORWAY - Røros
Torill Jorgensen and Ole Jørgen Kverneng, dance instructors
Magne Haugom and Ole Erik Feragen, musicians
Bart Brashers, nyckelharpa instructor
2009 SWEDEN – Hälsingland
Leif and Margareta Virtanen, dance instructors
Bengt Jonsson and Hanna Tibell, music instructors
2010 NORWAY – Finnskogspols
Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen and Veslemøy Nordset, dance instructors
Eva Karlsson, musician
Bruce Sagan, fiddle and nyckelharpa instrucotor
2011 SWEDEN – Western Dalarna
Tommy and Ewa Englund, dance instructors
Mattias Helje and Lars Halvorsson, musicians
Bart Brashers, nyckelharpa
2012 NORWAY - Telemark
Olav Sem and Rønnaug Larsen, dance instructors
Ottar Kåsa, hardingfele
SWEDEN – Hälsingland
O'tôrgs-Kaisa Abrahamsson and Håkan Lidén, fiddle instructors
2013 SWEDEN
Stig and Helen Eriksson, dance instructors
Eva Thorsell Hansson and Isabell Svärdmalm, musicians
2014 SWEDEN
Beret Bertilsdotter and Jens Holström, dance instructors
Richard Näslin and Anders Olsson, musicians
2015 SWEDEN
Petra Eriksson and Anton Schneider, dance instructors
Eva Karlsson and Josefina Paulson, musicians
2016 NORWAY – Dovre, Gudbrandsdalen
Anne-Grete and Rolf Bjørgan, dance instructors
Hans and Rasmus Kjorstad, musicians
Bart Brashers, nyckelharpa
2017 SWEDEN
Britt-Marie and Sven Olsson, dance instrucotrs
Mats, Ulf and Nils Andersson, musicians
Bart Brashers, nyckelharpa
2018 NORWAY – Valdres
Brit Berthelsen Totland and Knut Arne Jacobsen, dance instructors
Jan Beitohaugen Granli, hardanger fiddle
Magne Haugom, Røros, fiddle
Bruce Sagan, nyckelharpa
2019 SWEDEN – Eastern Dalarna
Britt-Mari Westholm and Eric Dahlgren, dance instructors
Jon Holmén, fiddle
Olle Moreaus, fiddle
Amy Hakanson, nyckelharpa
If you'd like to support Skandia's efforts to further Nordic cultural traditions, music & dance, here's how =>