A group of young folk dancers from Þjóðdansafélag Reykjavíkur went to Europeade to show icelandic folk dances. I was the group’s musician. Europeade is the largest festival of European folk culture.
Front row from left: Hrefna, Anna Karen, Kristín Sóley, Jiayun and Elizabeth Katrín.
The group had three performances at the festival. The performances consisted of traditional dances from the Gömlu dansar (e. Old Dances) and Söngdansar (e. Song Dances) traditions.
The biggest show was at the festival’s final event with 2000 people in audience. The group performed a collection of Icelandic Polka variations to my arrangement of the polka Hestamannapolki by Örvar Kristjánsson. Atli Freyr Hjaltason choreographed the show.
The group’s choreographs, teachers and leaders are the folk dancers Atli Freyr Hjaltason and Elizabeth Katrín Mason. They trained the group the months leading up to the festival and organised the trip. Elizabeth is also specialised in Icelandic folk costumes and had the vision for the group’s outfits.
Icelandic folk singing is an interest of some of the group members. Here is a clip from when we were killing time waiting for the festival’s parade to start.
Karl Hjaltason and Þorsteinn Björnsson performed Icelandic fimmundarsöngur (e. fifth singing) at the festival’s main concert.
A photo dump from the trip
