Folkdance History

Norwegian folkdancing refers to those dances done prior to 1900 in the country of Norway. Dances were passed down from one generation to the next by verbal means. Dances wer enot written down until the latter part of the 1800's and the early 1900's. A woman by the name of Igrid Bergman went into the Norwegian countryside and collected as many as she could before the older generation passed on and the dances would be lost. They were being lost because they were not being practiced for one reason or another. One possible explanation was the migrations to the New World which introduced new cultural practices allowed certain cultural practices, such as the traditional folkdances, to be forgotten.

Norwegian people danced as we do today, for pleasure. Dancing served as an important social function for contact between isolated farms and villages in the fjords and mountains. It was a way to celebrate special events in life, such as weddings, confirmations, christenings, etc.

It was hard traveling in Norway because of the large mountain ranges. The isolation of the different valleys or districts caused various interpretation of laws and customers as well as everyday dress. When a dance was introduced into the area, it was usually done by a wandering minstrel. His interpretation of the dance would probably not be the same from place to place. It took days for him to travel from district to district. He had to each dances only from memory. Also, the districts might take a dance and change it themselves (for example, altering the order of dance steps.) So variations have evolved with the same dance, such as the Parisar Polka or the Springar.

There are three major forms of dance in Norwegian heritage:

Song Dances: They are the oldest form of dancing. The song dance came on the scene around the 12th century. It started as just little songs of one or two verses in length that repeated over and over. Then poems or stories were introduced to pass on some event that had happened. Dancers sing the song as they dance; there were no instrument accompaniment.
Bygdedans: These are dances done in certain regions. They date back to the 18th century, and are accompanied by an instrument, usually the Hardangerfele (the Hardanger fiddle) or accordions.
Tur Dances: These are figure or pattern dances, also accompanied by the Hardangerfele or accordion. They came on the scene at the same time as the Bygdedans.

All of the dances were influenced by other European countries, especially England, France, Spain and Germany.

While observing the different folkdances from the other Scandinavian countries, it was very noticeable hoe the countries closest to Europe had dances that resembled the European dances. As each Scandinavian country got further away from Europe, the dances with each country changed. So, even though the dance was the same, each Scandinavaian country had made a variation of it. When all Scandinavian countries are together, then you can see the similarities of the dances and where they came from.

The costimes that the Folkdancers are wearing are authentic. Some of them were left to the club by prior members and others were handed down from generation to generation while others were bought by members when they visited Norway. All the costumes are made of wool.

The design on the female costumes are a registered trademark of different districts that make up Norway. A design was decided upon by the district and it was then registered in a Hall of Records. No other district could use that design. It was like a crest or coat of arms. There is an exception to this rule though. If a a person was wealthy, then that person could create a design and register it and no one else could use it.

There is a wider variety in the male costume than in the females. The reason for this is that they were seamen. When they traveled to various countries, they would see the different fashions and being vain, would take back with the m these new and wonderful fashions that they included in their costimes. Again, the exception to the rule was the interior of Norway. Seeing they could not travel very far, they were limited to change.