Bygdedans (or village dance) is the regional, traditional dance of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and th ...

. Bygdedans are the oldest and most distinctive among Norwegian folk dances.''Bygdedans'' (University of Oslo)
The music accompanying bygdedans is normally seen as the oldest living musical traditions in the country. These traditions have mainly survived in the more isolated farming communities of the country. In the urban areas and along the coastline where the interaction with other cultural expressions was more intense, these dances have been left behind in favour of new popular dances such as the ''

gammeldans Gammaldans (Swedish) or Gammeldans (Danish and Norwegian) (literally "old dance") is a small set of Nordic dances that became broadly popular in the late 19th century. These were also the dances of the Nordic immigrant communities in the United ...

'' which became popular with the arrival of new instruments like the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

. The basic form of the bygdedans is the ' (walking dance in 2/4 or 3/8) and the ' (running dance in even rhythm or 3/4) distinguished from each other mainly by tempo and intensity of the music and the dance. Both dances were characterised by a sequence of three parts: the figuring part; the free dancing part (') and the closed hold part ('). Through time much regional variation has developed and most dances today have a clear 3/4 pulse, which character varies considerably regionally. For instance in

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

the pulse is best characterised as longer – long – short, whereas in

Valdres Valdres () is a traditional district in central, southern Norway, situated between the districts of Gudbrandsdalen and Hallingdal. The region of Valdres consists of the six municipalities of Nord-Aurdal, Sør-Aurdal, Øystre Slidre, Vestre Slidr ...

it is short – longer – long. The ' today is only a living tradition in

and

Setesdal Setesdal (; older name: Sætersdal) is a valley and a traditional district in Agder County in southern Norway. It consists of the municipalities of Bykle, Valle, Bygland, Iveland, and Evje og Hornnes. The Otra river flows through the valley o ...

. In the western part of Norway the ' and its traditional tunes have been taken over by ' or ', a dance with a more modern waltzing style. The more athletic '' Halling'' or ''Lausdans'' can also be seen as an heir of ' but is mostly danced by men. The areas of bygdedans correlate mainly with the regions where the

hardanger fiddle A Hardanger fiddle ( no, hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument considered to be the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than f ...

is used as the main folk music instrument. In the parts of Norway where the violin is more common, the traditional dances like ''

pols The pols and springar The springar is a Norwegian couple Couple or couples may refer to : Basic meaning * Couple (app), a mobile app which provides a mobile messaging service for two people *Couple (mechanics), a system of forces with a resu ...

'' and ', have taken up more modern traits associated with the ''

gammaldans Gammaldans (Swedish) or Gammeldans (Danish and Norwegian) (literally "old dance") is a small set of Nordic dances that became broadly popular in the late 19th century. These were also the dances of the Nordic immigrant communities in the United ...

''.

References

Other sources

Larson, Leroy W. ''Scandinavian-American Folk Dance Music of the Norwegians in Minnesota'' (Ph.D. diss., University of Minnesota. 1975) {{Norwegian folk music Norwegian culture Norwegian folk dances Dance in Norway

See also

References

Other sources