NM i folkemusikk og folkedans

We were sleeping in a classroom with eleven people, most of whom we'd never met before; that is, I'd met one of them before and David had never met any of them. Since we were the last two to show up, we got the spot right by the door and the sink that everyone had to walk by. Needless to say, it was not comfortable. Fortunately that was the only real downside the event.

The other downside was that I had too many friends competing at the same time. I managed to see very few of them dancing. I did however get to see and hear lots of very good competition. The results of the week's competition were exciting - especially in dance! As usual with such a competition, there is now some debate about the criteria the judges used, especially in the vocal categories. As a spectator, the event was a success - lots to see and hear during the day and lots to dance to in the evening. As usual in Norway, going to a dance with a steady partner is a lot more fun.

We left early to get back to Rauland in time for the opening of the summer art exhibition. We drove the short way over the mountains and took lots of photos from the car. We stopped at a mountain stream for lunch. David played on a rock out in the stream; I was too chicken to jump out there and the rocks were too slippery to wade out on. We made it home just in time to take a shower, eat dinner and drive to the gallery opening.

Preparing for Reentry

In contrast to the party I had on Sunday, the hotel party on Monday was a usual a drunken scene. I decided instead to dance like a fool, which was clearly the better choice. The plan had been to grill outside, but that plan was foiled by the weather (high winds are not ideal for BBQ). Instead we cooked in the kitchen and hung out in the lift house until 4am.

On Tuesday we set the program for our final concert in June and review masurka. I spent some time reading at the local cafe and then went to a friend's house for dinner. We wound up watching Finding Nemo in Swedish. It was great. I felt like I was in Sweden in the summer. That house is very cheery. I've got my fingers crossed that I can live there next year, or at least in the summer.

Wednesday was dance, first with the children (they are so cute) and then the adults. We have about ten kids coming to the children's group we started. I hope they keep dancing. The adults were visited by a couple very nice German tourists. I stayed up late packing and finished on Thursday morning.

On Thursday I took the long bus ride across Southern Norway to Oslo. Coming down from the mountains, the snow recedes and gives way to the grey brown gravel and mud underneath. Soon there will be leaves on the trees to hide the birds that are singing. When I return, it might even be Spring in Rauland!

Storm Weather!

You might expect a weather update from that headline, but instead you're getting a concert review. Last night Rauland was graced with the rockin' presence of the Storm Weather Shanty Choir, http://www.shantychoir.com. The six members of the band sing to their own accompaniment on a variety of instruments. They sing everything you would expect from a Norwegian shanty choir. That is to say they sing shanties in Norwegian and English and sometimes a little of both. If you're lucky, you get to hear them sing sad songs about love lost; if you're really lucky, they break out their boy-band moves.

It seems natural that there is a healthy serving of audience participation in their performances. If everyone is going to be singing along anyway, why not make them sing out? Håkon Vatle, the head shantyman, is also a great performer and can get a crowd of any size singing and shouting and doing pretty much whatever he wants.

After the concert, we had the usual sequence of events. We clear the chairs, students play for dancing; people either dance, drink, or go home, and probably all of the above.

At one point, I was standing at the edge of the dance floor listening to my classmates play a really lovely waltz after a string of nordlandspols. It struck me that one of the things I'm really missing here is a really good waltz once in a while. I think I've danced one since school started. It's just hard to beat that feeling when the music is just right and you and your partner are moving perfectly together.

Geitebondelag

I now have two jobs. The first, as I may have mentioned, is cleaning at the dentist's office. It is awesome. I walk across the street, take out the trash, clean the sinks and toilets, vacuum, mop, make sure things look clean, and I'm done. The second job is a little more intense.

Somehow I thought that 6.5 hours of work a week might not be enough, so maybe one more day a week wouldn't hurt. Anja had mentioned me to the head waiter at the Rauland Høgfjellshotell and that's about all it takes to get a job there. I hadn't exactly expected to be working as a waitress this year, but then again, I was hoping to not work at all!

The first few two days (last Thursday and Friday), went reasonably smoothly. Roughly five hours each of serving drinks and clearing plates and washing dishes. Saturday night, however, was a different story.

Let me start by saying we are massively understaffed. I'll continue with at dinner on Saturday night we had roughly 130 members of the Goat Farmers' Association (Geitebondelaget) in addition to an automobile club and other hotel guests. We served all of them a four course meal, and beverages. There were nine of us working in the entire restaurant. We managed to get everything cleaned and ready for breakfast by 1:45am. All of those salmon dinners and lodge bazaars paid off finally!

Since yesterday was Sunday, we had dancing in Rauland. Yay! A few more locals came. Perhaps in a few weeks we'll get to critical mass to have some real open dancing! This evening I taught a dance class with one of my classmates, Anna G. She's an exceptional dancer. We taught several of the other students Rørospols and then Anna shared a half hour of halling tricks.