Norway

Margot’s Valsen

Svein Olav Solli, Borghild Reitan (now Solli) and Margot Sollie introduced this dance at Scandia Camp Mendocino 1997. They said that the dance is quite popular in the Røros area and is referred to there as Margots valsen. I believe this dance is referred to as Kalle P’s vals in Sweden. The dance mixes at the beginning. Dance one time through the dance sequence with your original partner, progress for the next repetition.

Presented by Roo Lester in 2009. View pdf here.

Rugen

A “turdans” (“figure dance”) with “runddans” (“turning dans”) elements. Rugen (a Reinlender melody with special phrasing)
Pronunciation: ROO-gehn

Music: 2/4 meter CD: Balkan and Beyond – Stockton 2009, Band 8.
Formation: Couples in a circle, social dance position, M’s L shldr and W’s R shldr twd ctr. Ftwk
is for M, W use opp ftwk.

Presented by Lee Otterholt in 2009. View pdf here.

Swedish/Norwegian Waltz

Gordon Tracie introduced this dance to the Scandinavian dance community and international folk
dancers during his teaching career. I had the pleasure of learning it from Gordon Tracie at one such workshop. The following information is taken from Dance a While 1978 and 1988 editions.
“This dance has been popular in the United States for at least fifty years. Gordon E. Tracie in his study of dances in Scandinavia in 1948 discovered that such a Swedish waltz was not danced in Sweden. However, an elderly couple from the country (Dalarna, Sweden) recognized it as the nearly forgotten "Norsk Vals" (Norwegian waltz), which they had danced in their youth. Scandinavian immigrants undoubtedly brought the dance to this country at the turn of the century.”

Presented by Roo Lester in 2009. View pdf here.