Swedish Folk Dancing Workshop - Reflection
In today’s workshop, we were taught three different types of traditional Swedish dances, including the schottis, polska and engelska. All of these dances were much simpler to perform than I expected, which made the workshop much more engaging for untrained dancers like myself.
The first dance we learned, the Schottis, is a very basic step, that is comparable to walking. It consists of two side steps to the right and left, followed by a simple turn. This dance is a partner dance, so it is traditionally performed in pairs of two. To teach this dance, I feel it would be most useful to describe it as “just walking”. By walking along to the dance while playing one of the traditional swedish songs, such as “Skraplandschottis” (included in the playlist), students will “feel the rhythm” of the song, which will help them to realize the steps of the dance. By keeping it simple and comparing the dance to walking, more students will be able to be engaged in the learning process and partake in the dance.
Another dance style we learnt in this workshop is the polska. The polska is a dance, usually in ¾ time, that is often a couple dance where the pairs will pivot in a circular motion. The song in the attached playlist, Ola Nes’ Reilender, is a good example of a swedish folk song that could be used for teaching a basic polska step. For this style of dance, a teacher might find it helpful to play the music first, so the students can get a feel for the ‘groove’. After this, an effective method would be to have the students simply walk to the music in pairs, before performing any steps. This will allow the students to get used to the idea of dancing with a partner. Finally, a teacher might begin to incorporate some basic rotational movements, in which each pair will turn around each partner. This would be an easy way to introduce the traditional polska style, while not overwhelming the students with fast paced turns and steps.
Finally, we were taught the traditional dance style, the Engelska. This is a simple duple meter dance, inspired by traditional British dances. This is a dance performed in couples, in which the pairs move around in a circular formation while performing a simple side step. This dance should be one of the simplest to learn, as it involves repetitive and identical movement from both partners. A song that would be appropriate for this style of dance is “Visselblasaren”, included in the playlist. To teach this dance, an inclusive approach may be to get the students to just walk around the room individually first. This will help them get used to the meter, before advancing to partner dancing. Once the students are used to the music, the teacher might tell them to partner up. Moving in a clockwise circle, the students should begin just by walking together, then adding in the basic side step. This is the simplest method of introducing the Engelska style to a large group of students, and I think would be most effective for students with little to no dance experience.
All of the styles we covered in this workshop would be excellent for introducing the concept of traditional Swedish folk dance to a classroom. None of the dances we covered were overly advanced, and the idea of “walking to the music” helped us non-folk dancers understand the feeling of the music in relation to the physical movement. I think that basic traditional dances like the ones introduced to us during the workshop could serve as an interactive learning experience, particularly for younger children.