Salsa is Hot in Norway
Norwegians love to social dance. I am often amazed at how many dance places there are in big cities, country towns and even coastal villages. Norway has its own traditional dance that involves a short man in a suit kicking a hat out of a maiden’s hand who is standing above him on a chair – very impressive. Norway also has a collection of sequenced country dances. Nowadays, the most popular dance to learn, outside of Oslo, is the Folk Swing (or North Norwegian Swing). It is a country-bumpkin version of a Rock-a-Billy Jive from the 50s. However, in the last ten years, Salsa has made its way to the Arctic North through the likes of immigrants. Now practically every town has at least one Salsa dance school.
Tromsø has a thriving dance community. You can learn salsa, rueda, merengue, bachata and cha cha cha from the Salsa clubs; Folk Swing, Bug and Boogie Woogie from the Swing clubs; and Norwegian Folk Tango, Argentine/Neo Tango and Finnish Tango from the Tangos clubs. Of course there are the regular Ballroom clubs in town too. Driv, the student club house, is the home of the student social dance club. Tromsø also has a Flamenco club and a Belly Dance club.
On any given weeknight there are always a great selection of dance classes to go to and always dance parties happening through out week. Tromsø has the northern-most Salsa Congress organised by Salsademika, the No Siesta, Fiesta! festival, which offers a great array of Latin American dance, and various Folk Swing dance galas. There are numerous workshops and courses by visiting artists, national and international, and Dansens Dag (International Dance Day) is a time where all the studios get together and make the city come alive with movement and music.
This past weekend was the Salsa Treff (Salsa Meet) organised by Salsa i Nord. Over three days there were ten courses with national instructors in Salsa, Bachata, Cha Cha Cha and Rueda, two dance nights with DJ and a live Latin band and all-you-can-eat waffles! (Dancing for three days straight you need to fill up on all that jammy-goodness.)
Hats off to the organisers of the Salsa Treff. I had a great time teaching and meeting all the North Norwegian Salseros – and, of cause, ‘wiggling it, just a little bit’.
For more information on what’s happening in Tromsø go to the local cultural news hub: Tromsø By (in Norwegian)
Salsa: Tromsø Salsa Klubb, Salsademika, Casino Royale
Swing: Tromsø Swing klubb, Kom og Dans Troms
Ballroom: Dans på roser, UiT danseklubb
Tango: Tango Polar
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Me and my ex used to love doing the bumpkin swing and were really good at it. I miss it a lot but the men here in the UK just don’t dance, which is a real shame.
I may have been born here, but I really don’t belong here.
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from L-Jay:
I find it takes a real man to want to learn to dance and because Norwegian men don’t have problems with their identity they are able to enjoy activities that most ‘mucho men’ are afraid of. The other thing I’ve realised over the years is that men don’t like to do anything that they don’t know all about first – women have more faith
But if you’d like to get back into dancing…
I had been teaching the E.C. Swing for 15 years and so when we were living in London we were training up on the Lindy Hop technique and Balboa. It is quiet different to learn from the Norwegian Swing but the atmosphere is very much the same – friendly and inviting – so I think you might like it very much as an alternative.
They normally hold classes in church halls or in pub function rooms.
Modern Jive (or CeRock) is very popular in the UK now – I’m sure there would be someone teaching it in a little hall near your area. This dance is extremely easy to learn and is actually a Rope Hustle step (70s), even though the French claim it was brought over during WW2 and developed into the dance it is today. All-in-all they are both a ‘single-swing’. The Modern Jive atmosphere tends to be similar to the Salsa – very fast. If you like tricks and dips then this is the dance for you.
The major thing I love about dancing is the great friends you make. My first great friends in Norway came from the dancing scene.