This year's S. Cal. Skandia Festival workshops will feature Tommy and Ewa Englund teaching dances from Sweden and fiddlers Bengt Jonsson, Kerstin Palm, and Karin Code.   The Thanksgiving weekend workshops will be held at Cedar Glen Camp, near Julian, CA, just outside of San Diego.  Workshops begin Friday morning, Nov. 23rd, and end Sunday,  Nov. 25th.

Tommy and Ewa Englund are favorite dance instructors at camps and festivals in the US and Sweden.  Born in Hälsingland, Tommy and Ewa live in Sandviken, Gästrikland, and both have earned their Polska Testing big silver medals.  They've won the Hälsinge Hambo Contest four times and serve as judges for various dance events, including the Polska Medal Testing (Ewa).  They have not been able to teach in the US much lately due to commitments in Sweden.  We are fortunate that they can come to our Festival.

Bengt Jonsson has been playing since he was very young.  Bengt’s group Jonssonlinjen plays for Polske-cirkusen, a dance group he organized in his home region of Hälsingland.  He has also played for the Hälsinge Hambo Contest, the Polska Medal Testing and he leads the Bollnäsbygdens Spelmanslag.  In 2000 Bengt was awarded Riksspelman on the cowhorn.

Kerstin Palm, Bengt’s wife, has been playing for Polskecirkusen and Jonssonlinjen since 1983.  She also plays for the dance workshops at Norrlandia Camp.  Kerstin is a talented singer with a special interest in kulning.

Karin Loberg Code is one of the foremost hardingfele players in this country and is known for her driving dance style.  Although she focuses on the valleys of Valdres and Hallingdal, Karin also plays from other districts.  She has twice lived in Norway.  Karin’s musical training and degree are in viola performance from the Univ. of Illinois.  She currently teaches violin and viola and is a frequent member of the viola section of the Kalamazoo Symphony.

Cedar Glen Camp is located near the small town of Julian.  It was a gold mining area in the 19th century but is now mostly agricultural, predominantly apple orchards.  Driving time is approximately 1&1/2 hours inland from Oceanside and 1 hour North and West from San Diego.  The camp facilities include cabins that house varying numbers of people as well as a large dining and dance hall with a very nice wooden floor.  Most people arrive Thursday afternoon or evening to get situated and participate in informal dancing.  There is no meal service on Thursday.  Workshops begin Friday morning after break-fast and conclude Sunday afternoon after lunch.

Please try to find rides with people from your area.  We will attempt to help coordinate transportation from airports but we cannot guarantee rides for any campers.  Please provide transportation requests early.

Workshop Particulars: Dancers $220, Musicians $140 (check payable to SCSF).  Application forms are available from (possibly) your local dance group, on the NCS web site: <http://members.aol.com/jglittle/ncs.html>, or from Ted Martin email: <tedmart@juno.com>,  phone: (714) 533-8667.  Send application form, check, and one SASE to: Darlene Martin: 5140 Keynote St., Long Beach, CA 90808-2523, phone: (562) 496-3405, e-mail: <dar
mar2@earthlink. net>. §

NCS Annual Meeting, Oct 20, 2001

The NCS Annual Meeting will be held Sat., Oct 20th  from 2:30 - 5 pm in Redwood City.   For more information, contact Jeanne Sawyer at (408) 929-5602, <jsawyer@SawyerPartnership.netcom.com> or Frank Tripi at (510) 654-3636, <ftripi@juno.com>.§-

Death of a dear friend

On Saturday morning, Sept. 8th, Tera Alston, one of our friends from southern California died of complications from a series of Grand Mal seizures. She died in spite of heroic efforts by close friends to keep her alive until she reached a hospital.

When she died, Tera was ready for a weekend of fun and dancing at the Harwood Lodge on top of Mt. Baldy. She was with friends who cared deeply about her, and she was doing what she loved the most.

Tera was unique in her joy of life, her tenacious struggle to emerge from distress, her loyalty to and faith in people.  She was a dancer, a musician, a teacher (school and RC), a leader and an inspiration. We'll sorely miss her, including her wonderful sense of humor and her rambunctious laughter.
Services have been held.  The administration at the school where Tera taught has set up a donations account in her memory.  The staff will jointly determine how the money will best be used to benefit the children of her school and to honor Tera's memory.  Some ideas for using the money are:  building a vegetable garden at the school, planting flowers or other plants in her memory, supplies for the children, funding special field trips . . .
Donations may be sent to:  Donations Account for Tera Alston, Victoria Avenue School, 3320 Missouri Ave., South Gate, CA  90280.  Make checks payable to:  Victoria Avenue School Student Body.

Editor’s note - The majority of the text of this article was taken from a notice sent to the SCAND list by Allan Hansen, and was used with his permission.  Information about Tera’s memorial fund is from a posting to the SCAND list by Darlene Martin. §

On Being Moved by Music

-by Tom Smithberger

Some years ago during a rare interview with renowned musician Gustav Leonhardt, the interviewer made reference to the powerful ability of music to move one emotionally.  Leonhardt responded,  "That is why it exists."  Very true, and as we know, much music also has powerful ability to move us physically in movement we call dance.  It is this physical movement I wish to say a little about.  (The two are of course closely related.)

A number of our Scandinavian dance teachers, notably Britt-Mari Westholm and Anne Røine, from Sweden and Norway, respectively,  and Norwegians Hilde Kirkebøen and Arne Anderdal, who are both musicians and dancers, have noted and sharply criticized our general tendency to be ahead of the music in our dancing.  In fairness to all of us, it is a usual tendency to be ahead of the music when one is struggling with a new dance or a new sequence of steps.  I am talking about when the dancing couple is mostly beyond this initial struggle.

I was glad to hear this, and welcomed the criticism since it was true and because I had observed and often felt this myself.  But I hadn't given it a lot of thought until they talked about it.  I had also observed, for example, that some of the really good Swedish dancers seem to "hang" on the music, that is, being pulled along or towed by the music instead of jumping right on top of the beat.  When I tried this myself, consciously trying to dance slightly behind the beat, I discovered two things: my dance felt better and more musical.  It also probably looked better.  I was really hearing the music better and appreciating it more.  Not bad results for such a relatively simple adjustment!  When I applied this to dancing Hallingspringar, the positive results were even more immediate and dramatic.

I realize this will not be simple for some, especially for those with a long habit of being slightly (or even way) ahead of the beat, or those not in the habit of really listening to the music.  Ahead of the beat?  Yes, believe it or not, some actually do this and do it habitually!  Not really listening to the music?  Yes, this, too!  This is most noticeable when one member of a dancing pair hears a slowing of the music, for example, and the other plows right ahead as if no change had occurred.

Even though it may be difficult at first for some, it is well worth the effort to practice dancing slightly behind the beat of the music.  This will force you to really listen to the music and to dance "with" the music rather than "to" it.  Practice it with music that most demands this kind of dancing and for which the maximum results will be achieved —  for example: the music we use for the polskas from Orsa, Ore, Rättvik, and Boda, Brekkenpols and the springars from Hallingdal and Telemark.  There are many others, of course, but these really stand out in my mind at the moment and may be the most immediately rewarding to work with.  To try this successfully, you may need to discuss what you are going to do before-hand to avoid confusion and for both people to get maximum results from the practice.  At the very least you will both have to be focused on listening intently to the music.  One of the probable results of this exercise is to feel your dance "slow down" and even become easier.

You could try what I am recommending here and I encourage you to do so!  The potential rewards are great, and you may end up enjoying enhanced emotional as well as physical movement from the music. §-

Lapp Nils: Jämtland’s Greatest Fiddler

  - by Tim Rued

In the last decade there has been a growing popularity among American Scandinavian dancers in the old dances of Jämtland: dances from Kall, Funäsdalen, and Oviken, the dances Gammalvänster, Norskleitjen; and many others.  The unifying type of tune that identifies the Jämtland dialect is the slower, smooth triplet polska ("triol polska" in Swedish)...  known as Lapp-Nils type tunes.  A special way of bowing triplets is called Lapp-Nils bowing.  Many tunes from Jämtland are called some-thing like “Polska after Lapp-Nils”.

Who was this character? How did he influence the music of an entire region so much, even more than 140 years after he played his last polska?
On May 8, 1804, a baby boy was born to Jonas Jonsson and his wife Lisbeta in the parish of Hallen, Jämtland.  He was called Nils, the apple of his mother’s eye.  Three years earlier she had lost her firstborn twins, and after Nils was never to have another child.  Throughout her life she wanted something special for her son, and encour-aged him in becoming the greatest fiddler of his age.

Nils’ father was the “Parish Lapp”.  In those days, the job of disposing of sick and dead dogs and horses was considered very lowly, disgusting work, and most people did not want to do it.  The reindeer-herding Lapps didn’t usually have the same prejudices, so the job was usually given to a Lapp who was willing to settle down in a community.  Jonas Jonsson died when Nils was 14 years old, and Nils inherited the job at that time.

At a very early age, Nils learned to play the fiddle, and eventually became the best fiddler in the district.  He was the most sought-after dance and wedding fiddler  in Hallen and all the surrounding parishes.  His mother saw this as a way of freeing her son from the thankless and abhorrent work he took over from his father.  When Nils turned 17, the two of them quietly left town, disappearing into Norway.

It is believed that they settled around Verdal and Levanger, where Lapp-Nils could learn more from the best fiddlers there.  He took fiddle lessons, while his mother took on farm work to support them.  Soon he was acclaimed as a “storspelman” (great fiddler), even in Norway.

When he and his mother returned to Hallen in 1823, his reputation had preceeded him.  He was not rich, since he took up the “Parish Lapp” position again for money.  That wasn’t quite enough, so he took to trading between the nomadic Lapps and the Swedes: reindeer hides, reindeer meat, reindeer cheese, Lapp shoes, etc.  He did very well as a trader, and his travels helped spread his fame as a fiddler, as well.

According to folk belief, great fiddlers often had some-thing to do with evil powers.  Lapps were also considered to be pagan and somewhat connected with the dark powers.  These factors being combined in Lapp-Nils, people’s imaginations were bound to be set in motion, and his fame only increased.  They were interested in what kind of a man he was, besides his music.

Wherever he went, he was welcome.  Everyone wanted to hear the famous Lapp-Nils, and dance to his music.  It was not unusual for a dance to be held in the middle of the workweek, for no other reason than that he was staying in town for the night.

Lapp-Nils married in 1829, to a Lapp girl named Kirsten Clementsdotter.  He continued to be such a prized fiddler that he would be booked for weddings more than a year in advance.  His travels took him all over Jämtland and Medelpad, and even down into Hälsingland on occasion.  His wife usually travelled with him.  They never had any children of their own.  They adopted his newborn nephew, but he died at age 4.  Nils’ mother died in 1833, having seen her wish of fame for her son fulfilled.

Weddings in those days were huge events.  Lapp-Nils would usually arrive a week early to prepare.  He would often give lessons to local fiddlers, and prepare them to play tunes with him during the festivities.  Once others could play his tunes, he would often play second fiddle harmony with them.  When the wedding began, he would play before, during, and after the church ceremony, and almost constantly for the next few days during the celebration.  Besides dance music, he would play the ceremonial tunes for gift-giving, serving food and drink, and saying goodbye when the guests left to go home.

During his playing years he had many students, among whom were some of the greatest Jämtland fiddlers of the next generation.  It was their playing that continued the Lapp-Nils tradition, eventually sending it on to us in the 21st century.

Many stories and legends sprang up and were spread concerning Lapp-Nils.  He had an injured pinkie on his left hand, and some said it had been broken by a jealous fiddler.  Others said an envious fiddler had cut it to get some blood, hoping it could work some magic to help him play better.  Lapp-Nils was said to be able to “change” other people’s fiddles by magic.  He is said to have predicted his own death.

Lapp-Nils did not like these stories at all.  He was a moral and religious person, and did not want anything to do with evil.  (Remember, what we think of as just stories were very real to most people in those days.) He did not go in with those who said that all music was profane, and that all fiddles should be burned, but he did worry about music and salvation.  As the “bakmes”, or counterclock-wise dance became popular in Jämtland, Lapp-Nils refused to play for it.  Backwards things were considered devilish, and the bakmes was called sinful by many.  If he was playing for a dance and people started turning coun-terclockwise, he would pack up his fiddle and leave.

By the late 1850’s Lapp-Nils quit playing altogether.  Stories about him going and burying his prized fiddle are most likely false.  He was known as quite a fiddle trader in his day, and many people today own fiddles that he once owned.  In his later years he was known to play in private on occasion, but it was usually only a psalm or a bridal tune.  Those who heard him even then said that he played with the most wonderful feeling.  He died on the 18th of April, 1870, at age 66.  His legend and legacy still live on today, nearly 200 years after his birth.

(Most of the information in this article was borrowed from the book, ”Spelmän Spelmän”, by Gunnar Ternhag, 1975.  )

A bit about the music -
What is a Lapp-Nils tune, now?  The term is some-times applied just to tunes that he played; but more often it refers to a type of Jämtland tune.  First of all, it is a triplet polska.  It usually has a predominance of 8th-note couplets in the melody, but it is infused with many trip-  lets.  Tempos for  Lapp-Nils polskor range from fairly sedate to about the tempo of a triplet polska from Western Dalarna or Värmland, or a Røros Pols.  They are especially appropriate for dances from Western Jämtland, such as from Kall, Oviken, and Föllinge.  The special way of bowing the Lapp-Nils triplets is to slur the second and third notes of each triplet.  The difference in timing between the couplets and triplets is usually accentuated, sometimes even exaggerated.
I’ve chosen a couple of representative tunes to illus-trate the style of the Lapp-Nils tradition.    The first tune presented here is a typical Lapp-Nils polska, very widely played in Jämtland.  It was written down after the playing of Salomon Jönsson, a pupil of Lapp-Nils himself.  This arrangement, done by Göran Olsson Föllinger for the Fiddlers’ Association in Jämtland (Heimbygdas Spelmansförbund), exemplifies the kind of seconding characteristic of the style.  Note the pronounced difference between the triplets and couplet particularly in the 4th full measure of the first reprise.  Similarly, the difference is especially marked in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th measures of the second reprise.

The tonality of the tune is also typical of the Lapp-Nils style.  One common variation to try is in the 4th measure of the 2nd reprise.  Try playing the first G-note of the second triplet as a G-natural, and then switching to G-sharp at the end of the triplet.  It works just as well with the second fiddle part, and gives a special twist to the phrase.

The second tune is a senpolska known to have been played by Lapp-Nils.  A senpolska is an especially slow polska ? played almost exclusively in Jämtland, Härje-dalen, Medelpad, and northern Hälsingland.  This is another arrangement by Göran Olsson Föllinger.  §

A Bit about Dance Tempo

(Editor’s note - a recent discussion on the Scandinavian email discussion list prompted many comments.  Here is one of the most interesting and informative - from Tim Rued - and used with his permission.)

It's gratifying to see how many dancers and fiddlers are aware of the variations in tempo of the dances over the years.  As it was explained to me, it is not just because of the passage of time, but for many reasons.  Just try doing a smooth polska turn on bumpy ground in boots, then again on a waxed floor with leather soles.  The shoes, floor, exuberance of the dancers, time of day, weather, all affect how fast a dance can be at its most enjoyable.  Fiddlers watch the dancers to take this into account.

Also, as Sheila (Morris) said, the tunes themselves often lend themselves to faster or slower speeds, and the dancers must follow.  Fiddlers from different traditions, even in the same area, often play at differing speeds because "that's the way they do it".  One fiddler told me:  If some dancers in Orsa hired Hjort Anders to play at a dance, they did not expect to dance to Orsa tunes - but they danced Orsa polska and enjoyed it to the great Bingsjö music of the master fiddler.  (not recommended in general for dancers over here...  :-)    ) The important thing is that the fiddlers be responsive to the dancers, and that the dancers relax and enjoy dancing to whatever the fiddlers play.  The timing as noted by dance researchers only refers to a common speed,  not the definitive speed.  §

Fiddle Tips - Basic Polska types and bowing

- by Sarah Kirton

Tim's article about Lapp Nils and the music of Jämtland brings us to another topic  - Basic polska types and their common bowing patterns.  You've probably noticed that there seem to be a variety of ways to bow a polska correctly - as well as “incorrectly.”  How on earth does one choose one of the “approved” bowing patterns for a polska?  I'll attempt to clear up some of the mystery here.  The bowing patterns discussed here are only general rules.  They are intended to help the fiddler give the music the right lilt - what the Norwegians call svikt, and often help make the tunes easier to play in the long run.  There are, of course, other things one can do on particular tunes, or exceptions one can make for a measure or so to provide some spice.  But the important thing is always the dance rhythm and the lilt of the dance.

There are three basic polska types: eighth note (åttondels in Swedish), triplet (triol), and sixteenth note (sextondels) polskas.  I don't think there's any Swedish region without eighth note polskas, and along the borders of a “polska region,” one polska type is often as common as the other.  I can't think of any area with both triplet and 16th note polskas, though someone will probably write to tell me I've overlooked something obvious!  The classification of polskas into these three types depends on the structure of the music, not its speed, the relative lengths of the beats, or what dance is done to it.  The slow sen-polskas from Jämtland and Medelpad discussed in the previous article usually fall into the 8th note or 16th note polska categories.

Eighth note polskas are built upon quarter and eighth notes.  The other two polska types are derived from this type.  Most hambos and mazurkas, most polskas from eastern and central Dalarna (with the exception of almost all Bingsjö, and some Rättvik and Ore polskas), most Bondpolskas (Uppland, and parts of Hälsingland and Gästrickland), and most senpolskas are 8th note polskas.  (Areas not mentioned here, or in the paragraphs about 16th note polskas, most probably have many 8th note polskas.)  Eighth note polskas often have an occasional set of triplets or 16th notes thrown in to liven things up.  There is a basic bowing pattern for 8th note polskas - <down> on beat one (no matter how many notes are contained within the beat), up on beat two (no matter how many notes…), and two strokes <down-up>, on beat three.  Of course if beat three has only one note in it, one cheats and uses two strokes on either beat one or two.  Basic bowing for 8th note polskas and common cheats are shown in Figure 1.  Eighth note mazurkas are often bowed a bit differently, <down-up> on beat one, with single strokes on beats two and three.  (There are several types of mazurkas, though, and not all sound good with this bowing pattern.)  Sometimes other tunes beg to be bowed this way, too.  Then, of course, there are variations on these bowings.  One can start the up bow for the second beat on the second note of the first beat,  start the down bow for the third beat on the second note of the second beat, or slur the last note of the third beat across the bar into the first beat.  This and similar variations are shown in Figure 2.  The basic aim is to be down bow on the heavy beats; beats one and three.  The down bow on beat one is most important.  Many mazurkas tend to have heavy beats on beats one and two, so the <down-up>, <down>, <up> pattern mentioned above gives a down bow on the heavy beats.  Mazurkas and hambos can also be in triplet polska form.
Another variation is what I've heard called slängpolska  bowing.   Here I'm talking about the slängpolskas com-mon along the north-central Swedish coast along the Bay of Bothnia.  This bowing pattern, shown in Figure 3, gives a real lift to the music.  The various bondpolskas that have been so popular here in recent years are variations on these, but some don't use this bowing.

Triplet polskas are most common along the border of Sweden and Norway, that is, the western areas of Jämtland, Härjedalen, Dalarna, most of Värmland, Bohusland, and in all of Norway.  Rørospols and the springleiks are triplet based - as are the hardingfele spring-ars.  Tim talked a bit about triplet polskas in his article - and I couldn't describe them better.  They are built on 8th notes, and are a variation on 8th note polskas.  But, as Tim says, they have many triplets in them.  One simply substitutes a set of triplets for a quarter note or an 8th note pair.  Sometimes these tunes are almost all triplets.  One tries to be down bow on beat one, but the rest of the bowing is often dictated by the requirements of playing triplets.  The so-called Lapp-Nils bowing pattern for triplets is often used in Jämtland and Härjedalen, but one can always bow each note of the triplet separately, or, less often, slur the three notes of the triplet together.  The Lapp-Nils bowing takes the first note of the triplet in its own down bow, and then slurs the second and third notes together on the up bow.  I once heard a visiting Swedish fiddler describe the motion one makes to get the proper sound as making a slight throwing or tossing motion with the wrist on the down bow.  This gives the down bow a slight emphasis - both from a tiny bit more pressure and because the bow is moving faster.  The up bow is a re-covery motion.  The second two notes sound a bit like a recovery, too.  This bowing pattern, but without quite the same throwing motion on the down bow, is also common in Røros and especially Gudbrandsdal.  I suspect they wouldn't appreciate one calling it "Lapp-Nils bowing," though.  Also, as Tim points out, in Jämtland and Härjedalen there is often a marked difference made between triplets and couplets (two 8th notes together).  I've not noticed such a marked difference in the playing of fiddlers from other areas.  It also depends on a fiddler's personal style.  It's also possible to transform a set of trip-lets into two 8th notes.  (Examples in Figure 3.)  This can make for interesting variations in a tune.  See what you can come up with.  But don't put too many of these substi-tutions into any one tune.

Sixteenth note polskas are also built on eighths and quarter notes, with sets of 16th notes substituted for many quarter notes or 8th note pairs.  Sometimes there are so many substitutions that one has to look long and hard to find an 8th note.  These polskas are common in southern and eastern Sweden.  Many of the southern slängpolskas, many polskas of Hälsingland, Gästrickland, and eastern Dalarna (most Bingsjö, many Ore and some Rättvik) are 16th note polskas.  Here one usually aims for a down bow on beat one.  The rest of the bowing is dictated by the requirements of the 16th notes.  One could bow the 16th note sets all separately or, less often, all together.  (This is often done when sets of 16th notes appear in what are basically 8th note polskas.  Boda polskas often have these.)  But the most common bowing is to take the first two together - usually in a down bow.  The last two are bowed separately: <up, down>.  The bowing for the next beat is reversed, so one has down bows on alternating beats.  (See Figure 4.)  Almost as common is to bow them in sets of two - down on the first two, up on the last two.   This gives a down bow on each beat.  These two patterns are a large part of what gives 16th note polskas their internal rhythm.  It creates the rolling feeling of the music.  From what I've seen, the bowing one chooses seems to be a function of personal preference and one's teacher for that tune or style.  Examples of bowing for these polskas are given in Figure 4.  It's very easy to get bogged down in the details of getting notes right.  Often only the first and third note of the four 16ths are really important.  Play the others clearly, but don't give them too much emphasis.  If you're bowing <down, up-down> for the four notes, emphasize only the first note of the four.  Be sure to use short, unaccented bows on the <updown> of the last two notes of each set.  If you don't, you'll end up flailing with the bow, unable to keep up to the tempo (or else rushing !).  It's legal to leave out one of the four notes, usually the second one, as a variation.  I've had older fiddlers swear up and down that examples like the first two in Figure 6 are EXACTLY the same.  So now you know another way to ummm -- cheat - or rather, ahem, to simplify, or, cough, cough, to create interesting variations - by leaving notes out.  More examples of this are also shown in Figure 5.  And - if you constantly have trouble with 16th note polskas, remember that a lot of fiddling is mind tricks.  Concentrate on the first note of each set of four, remembering that you have a lot more time to play those pesky four notes than you may think.  Use short bows - an inch or two of bow is plenty.  Remember that the last three notes are often filler - sound effects - impliers of an internal rolling rhythm - over a calm sea of quarter note pulses.  You do need to play them in tune, in time, and clearly, but don't use a lot of bowing energy on them.  Convince yourself of the vast quantity of time you have to get those four notes played clearly and beautifully by singing, or by playing only four notes (at, say, the beginning of a phrase) along with a recording.  Wear earphones to do this or any other practicing where you are trying to copy exactly what a recording is doing.  If you rely on speakers, it's all too easy for your fiddle to cover the details of the recording, and you can convince yourself you've really got something understood and conquered when you haven't.  Pay particular attention to the timing of the bow changes and the feel of the bow as it bites into the string.  Does what you're doing feel like what the fiddler on the recording must have been doing?  Are you taking the same length bows?  What about bow pressure and speed?   Imitating a good fiddler carefully to learn technique is a first step to developing your own style.

Now that you've read about these bowing patterns, get your fiddle and try them.  Your aim should be to get them into your muscles so you don't have to think about which pattern to use or how to get it to sound good.  Yes - this may take a few years!  And remember what another fiddler once told me.  "It's always correct to take each note separately."  However, it's sometimes easier to use one of these common sluring patterns.   Happy Fiddling. §


American Scandinavian Music Sites:

The Northern California Spelmanslag:
<members.aol.com/jglittle/ncs.html>

Nordahl Grieg Leikarring & Spelemannslag
<www.ngls.net>

The American Nyckelharpa Association:
<www.nyckelharpa.org>

Bruce Sagan’s Scandinavian Web Site:
<www.math.msu.edu/~sagan/Folk/sources.html>

The Hardangar Fiddle Association of America
<www.hfaa.org/>

The Skandia Folkdance Society (Seattle):
<www.Skandia-Folkdance.org>
-----------------------------

About the Calendar

A (somewhat) more detailed and up-to-date calendar can be found on the NCS Webpage at

<members.aol.com/jglittle/ncs.html>

Web and Newsletter calendar submissions should be sent to Jim Little at 321 McKendry, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, email: <jlittle@unix.sri.com>, phone: (650) 323-2256 or Sarah Kirton at 330 Sierra Vista Ave. #1, Mt. View, CA, 94043, email: <sekirton@ix.netcom.com>, phone: (650) 968-3126. Suggestions for what to include in a calendar submission are found below and will eventually be on our web page. The web page calendar is updated when new material is received. §

-----------------------------

Submission of Newsletter and Web Page Calendar Items

The following are suggestions for those submitting calendar items for publication in the Newsletter or on the NCS Web Page. In general, the web page may contain more details than the newsletter, because of space/mailing weight considerations. For those without email - no, we're not putting less in the newsletter calendar, we're just expanding it on the web page. (Jim and Sarah’s addresses can be found above.)

1) if we ask for a contact method, always include a phone number, not everyone has email.
2) time & place of the event.
3) location of event, directions to get there if needed, or how to obtain directions (who to phone, email, etc).
4) cost of event - we haven't always been including this, we hope to begin to.
5) special schedules around holidays, summertime, etc.
6) tell us if there’s a change in time (or location, price, etc) - for two reasons - so that we don’t say - “oh yes, that’s the same group as before” and miss changing the time, and so we can put in in bold to alert our readers to a change.
7) registration deadline, where to get registration forms, etc, if applicable.
8) if it's a special event, include a brief description, or a even a paragraph we could publish if the timing's right and space allows. Our primary emphasis is folk music and dance, but paragraphs (or very occasionally whole stories!) on other Scandinavian cultural events are more than welcome depending on space and timing. (see below for publication schedule)
9) contact people for info for those reading calendar (eg, phone #, address, regularly read email - if you read it only every 2-4 days, warn folks, if only once every week or so - probably best to forget it!)
10) Contact people for we who create the calendar - you can specify not to publish this particular information - it's just for us to check to see that our info is ok or if you want to update anything when the next publication date rolls around. Again - specify phone #, email, etc.
11) Any other pertinent information.

We hope & attempt to publish on the following rough schedule:
Vol. 11, No. 3 early November
Vol. 11, No. 4 late December - early January
Vol. 12, No. 1 late February, early March
Vol. 12, No. 2 late May - early June
 §

Folkedans Stevne at Camp Norge, Alta, CA , November 2 - 4, 2001  (Alta is between Auburn and Truckee on I 80 -  in the beautiful Sierras).  Gunnulf Sletta returns, this time with Anna Helge Johnbøen to teach Telespringar.   Hardingfele spelman Toby Weinstein of Boston will play for dance and teach hardingfele.  Other music workshops in accordion, torader, and ensemble playing will be taught by Bill Likens.  For information contact:  Zena Corcoran at (415) 355-3752,  email: ZMCorcoran@aol.com;  Anne Huberman & Greg Goodhue,(408) 259-9959, email: <goodhue @ hotmail.com>;  Nick Jensen (916) 933-0671,email: <NJJensen@direcpc.com>;  or Mikkel Thompson, (408) 998-2076, email: <mikkelrev@juno.com>.