Polska (dance) - Norway

Norway

Norway's dances show the most consistent living tradition, with unique local dances still danced socially today within specific regions or communities. There are two predominant broad types, each characterized by its own music, instrumentation, and dance tradition.

• Dances referred to as pols are commonly danced to music played on standard fiddles (violins) and largely adhere to a conventional structure composed of two eight-bar phrases, each phrase repeated, and then the whole structure repeated (a total of 64 three-beat measures). The dances typically have a structure that matches the phrasing, with a section in which the couple walks an elaborated promenade, a section in which they dance bakmes turn (upper body facing as a couple, bodies rotating counter-clockwise at a rate of one revolution per two measures), a section in escort position, and concluding with a section dancing the pols turn (bodies facing with the couple rotating clockwise at the rate of one turn per measure). Dances in this style were and are danced widely in Norway and predominate in eastern Norway and the mountainous spine bordering Sweden in communities such as the mining town of Røros, and others in the provinces of Trøndelag, Østerdal and in Gudbrandsdalen where the dance in this style is called springleik.

• The other strong tradition in Norway is the springdans (running dance) or springar, danced primarily in communities in western Norway and the fjord areas of west central Norway. Here, the music is played largely on the hardingfele (or Hardanger fiddle; a specially constructed fiddle fitted with four conventionally fingered and bowed strings but also resonating strings (usually five) that produce a distinctive droning sound). The music is also distinct in that tunes are built through the repetition and elaboration of short two- or four-measure motifs. The dance is similarly freer in form, led by the male through a spontaneous sequencing of standard movements as the couple moves through a large variety of holds and underarm turns (these movements appearing similar to modern swing and salsa although in a much slower style). In some traditions much of the dance may be danced with the couple near a single spot (e.g., springar danced in Telemark) while in others they may continue moving counterclockwise around the dance floor (e.g., those danced in Valdres and Hallingdal). The music and dance are still in triple time, but often composed of measures with very asymmetrical beats – for example, a short first and attendant longer second beat – in which the dancers' steps show adaptation to the unique rhythm.