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Announcing Nordic Fiddles & Feet 2009

See the t-shirt design and order your choice of style and color now.

Camp this year is June 28 to July 4 at Camp Ogontz, New Hampshire. Download the brochure now, including the registration form.
Again this year: first-time campers get 10% off; mini-camp June 28-July 1.

Whether you’re new to Scandinavian dance/music or a perennial camper, come embrace the Fiddles and Feet community that springs to life each summer!

Dance classes include Swedish, Norwegian, and Basics and are designed for all levels of dancers. Dance basics is intended to give beginners an introduction to Scandinavian dancing while working on skills that help all levels of dancing. We change partners often (you need not register with one). Evening parties are varied with gammaldans, mixers, bygdedans, dances taught during daily classes, and your special requests. We dance to live music at every session and party!

Music classes include multiple levels of Swedish fiddle, as well as hardingfele, and nyckelharpa. Classes are generally taught "by ear" although a syllabus will be available. To take a fiddle class you should be a competent fiddler in some tradition, but may be new to Scandinavian music. For basic hardingfele or nyckelharpa you need to have some musical background. The gammaldans band and allspel sessions are open to ALL instruments and singers.

Crafts and cultural sessions will be presented by various members of the staff throughout the week.

Swedish Staff

Britt-Mari Westholm and Bengt Mård are well known to Swedish folkdancers around the world as some of the best teachers of the popular Dalarna dances. Bengt has been teaching polskor since the 1970’s, and led the famous Hörkens Bygdedansare in the 1980’s. Britt-Mari started learning Swedish folkdances in the early 1980s, and soon was helping Kalle Strandell teach. She has been a judge at the Hälsingehambon and other gammaldans competitions.

Kalle Almlöf is one of the giants of Swedish folk fiddling. He first rose to prominence in the 1960s, and since then has inspired generations of musicians through many recordings and many years of the “Kalle-course” at the Malung Folkhögskola. His ringing tone, his sure sense of phrase, and his enormous storehouse of tunes make him a national treasure.(He is one of the few living recipients of Sweden's Zorn Gold medal.) Anders Almlöf, Kalle's nephew, has hearned Kalle's style so well that it's hard to tell who's playing which part. Anders himself has several recordings (including a duo CD with Kalle). He was the first fiddler in about 20 years to receive the Riksspelman award the first time he played for teh Zorn jury. He makes his living as a blacksmith!

Magnus Holmström: educated at the Sahlströhm Institut and Stockholm's Royal College of Music, he is a three-time "world-champion" nyckelharpist, the only three-time winner, and he's won on both modern and kontrabas nyckelharas. (He's bringing both to camp.) He has prosuced and collaborated on many recorings, including the brand new Storis & Limpan.

Norwegian Staff

Dag Hamre and Brit Berthelsen Totland were extremely popular at last year’s camp, and we liked the idea reinforcing Valdres among our campers – so we asked them back! Dag took his first halling class at age 12, and danced in his first Landskappleik in 1978. He competed actively in both springar and halling until 1996, and has taught dance courses since 1989. He says he likes to focus on harmonizing the dance relationships: within the dancing couple, and between them and the musician. Brit has been dancing Norwegian folkdances since the 70’s, and is still participating in the Landskappleik. She says, “When the dancers have learned the Valdresspringar, they just dance and do not think what shall come next.”

Tore Bolstad is the heir apparent to the great Valdres fiddler Torleiv Bolstad (his great-uncle). He grew up on a farm in Valdres (which his parents still work). He has won the Norwegian Kappleik in hardanger fiddle, and recently gave a concert with Hauk Buen. (His tone is amazing.) He’s been to the US many times.

Frode Nyvold has been involved with folk music since the 60's. He's taught folk singing for more than 20 years at Norway's Telemark University. He also plays and will teach two-row accordion (torader). He's performed for countless concerts and festivals, and was nominated for a Norwegian grammy for his solo recorking Skjemt og sjanti.

State-Side Staff

Roo Lester and Larry Harding are returning to NFF and will share their broad experience and delightful teaching style with us. They are especially welcoming and helpful to new campers and less experienced dancers while deeply respected and favorite teachers of more experienced dancers as well.

Loretta Kelley returns this year! She’s the best-known American hardanger fiddler, with many recordings and countless camps and dances to her credit. She adds spark to any evening party (late nights at the sauna, anyone?), and will be tutoring hardanger students as well as running the hardanger spellmannslag.

Karin Code will direct the gammaldans band, play for dancing, and generally add life and music to camp. She’s well known to HFAA members – especially for her musical roots in Hallingdal – has a solo recording, and has given concerts and workshops throughout the US.

T-Shirt Design

All T-shirts are 100% cotton, available in two colors (natural and blue) and five styles (regular, regular long-sleve, woman's style, woman's style long-sleeve, and youth size). Take a look at the pictures, but remember that your monitor may not display the colors exactly.

To order a specific color and style, you must email julianne@vermontel.net by 9 pm June 11th. If you pre-ordered a shirt and do not email, you will get a regular style shirt in natural.

www.nordicfiddlesandfeet.org • fiddlesandfeet@bellsouth.net • (865) 522-0515

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