All activities took place at Folklore Village, located in a peaceful, rural area about seven miles east of Dodgeville, Wisconsin and about a 35-minute drive west of Madison. The beautiful, air-conditioned main hall includes a spacious sprung wooden dance floor and separate classrooms for fiddle instruction.

Workshops

Instruction began early Thursday afternoon, continued all day Friday and Saturday, and ended with a review session Sunday morning. Part-timers were welcome.

Hardingfele: The workshop featured a nurturing environment that helped students acquire, develop, and deepen their skills as Hardanger fiddlers. Students need not have played hardingfele or Scandinavian fiddle before, but should have had some solid fiddling skills. Friday and Saturday morning workshop classes divided into four levels from beginner to advanced. Workshop tunes were taught by ear, in a call and response method. (Students were able to download tunes from the HFAA website in advance of the weekend. Written music transcriptions were available at the workshops.) Afternoons included private lessons, seminars on relevant topics, review sessions to prepare group (lagspel) tunes for evening dances, and assistance with fiddle maintenance.

Students had the opportunity to:
Review last year’s (Hallingdal) tunes.
Take private lessons with our American teachers.
Get coaching on dance fiddling.
Play for dance parties in a group (lagspel).
Perform during Friday’s showcase concert.

Private, 20-minute coaching sessions with the teachers could be scheduled throughout the weekend to help solve personal fiddling challenges. Students signed up for a session at the registration desk. Fiddlers who wanted to try the hardingfele but did not have an instrument were welcome. Students who had no fiddling experience but thought they might be interested, could audit the beginners’ class.

Dance: The HFAA does not set any gender limitations or experience pre-requisites for our dance workshops. All are welcome. Dance students will have the opportunity to dance to live fiddle music. Instruction is tailored to both beginning and experienced dancers.

Note: Fiddle and dance classes are taught concurrently. If a student wishes to take classes in both, we recommend that he/she signs up for fiddling on Friday and dance on Saturday. Our instructors will try to accommodate Saturday-only enrollees, but we recommend that students attend both the Friday and Saturday sessions as Saturday's work builds on the work done on Friday.

And more . . .

Dance parties were held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Dances included not only Numedal springar and gangar but also dances from the other traditions and gammeldans. A varierty of dance fiddlers, as well as our lagspel group, played for the dance parties.

Talent showcase: The fourth Annual Talent Showcase was an opportunity for our members to perform hardingfele / Norwegian music and/or dance. The Showcase took place on Friday night. Performance slots were given on a first-come, first-served basis. Sign-up will begin with registration on Thursday.

Saturday evening concert: After dinner on Saturday there was be a concert featuring our workshop
teachers. This concert was open to the public, and ticket sales took place at the door.

Extras: Also included were videotapes, special lectures on dance traditions, and question-and-answer sessions. For those interested in reviewing the dance taught at last year’s workshop (Hallingspringar), we had a session or two with Karin Brennesvik.

Children and Teenagers

Children are welcome. Children who have the ability to participate in music and dance activities may attend the workshops. There are no childcare facilities available, so parents should be prepared to watch their children and work cooperatively with other parents. Advance registration is required for all children. Teenagers without parents attending are welcome but they must have a chaperone.

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