The Halling (''hallingdansen'') is a

folk dance A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...

('' bygdedans'') traditionally performed in rural

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, although versions of the halling can also be found in parts of Sweden. The dance is traditionally performed by young men at weddings and parties.

Overview

The halling is a quick (95–106 bpm) dance in or that includes acrobatic, athletic competition between the dancers. Hallingdans can best be described as rhythmic acrobatic dance and consists of a number of steps which requires both strength and softness elation. The dance is associated with the valleys and traditional districts of

Valdres Valdres () is a traditional district in central, southern Norway, situated between the districts of Gudbrandsdalen and Hallingdal. The region of Valdres consists of the six municipalities of Nord-Aurdal, Sør-Aurdal, Øystre Slidre, Vestre S ...

and

Hallingdal Hallingdal () is a valley as well as a traditional district located in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud county in Norway. It consists of six municipalities: Flå, Nes, Gol, Hemsedal, Ål and Hol. Hallingdal is one of the ma ...

, where it is often referred to as the ''laus'' (loose dance). The term refers to it being danced solo, not in couples (although coupled halling dancing is traditional in the western parts of the country). According to some scholars, the word may refer to the fact that the dance was "half" the performance, as the other half was the springar (after the fashion of a Renaissance dance suite). The meter of the dance is or of a quite fast (95–106 bpm), sharp quality which calls for an experienced musician. The musician has to give the dancers enough impetus to perform the various challenging moves that are involved in the dance such as the ''nakkespretten'' (neck jump), ''kruking'' (hooked dancing), ''hodestift'' (going over the head) and especially the ''kast'' (throw). The dancer Olav Thorshaug performed hallingdans shows in the United States of America around 1910–1920, incorporating the

headspin A headspin is an athletic move in which a person balances on their head while rotation, rotating along the vertical Axis of rotation, axis of their body, usually without any other form of support. The move is commonly employed in the Afro-Brazil ...

in his dance. One of the dance moves is called ''hallingkast''. In this move, a girl has traditionally held a hat high using a stick or something similar, and the dancer is supposed to kick down the hat. ''Kast'' is seen as the test of strength, which involves kicking a hat that is held about 230 to 280 cm above the floor. Some girls have been able dancers themselves, and known to be as agile as any man.

In popular culture

Noted Norwegian composer

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

composed several pieces of music for the halling dance in his ''

Lyric Pieces ''Lyric Pieces'' () is a collection of 66 short pieces for solo piano written by Edvard Grieg. They were published in 10 volumes, from 1867 ( Op. 12) to 1901 (Op. 71). The collection includes several of his best known pieces, such as '' Wedding ...

''. The finale of Geirr Tveitt's Piano Concerto No. 5, published in 1954, is described as 'Tempo di Halling'. The dance was performed by the Frikar Dance Company to the Norwegian winning contribution for the 2009

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

, " Fairytale", by singer and fiddle player

Alexander Rybak Alexander Igorevich Rybak (; born 13 May 1986) or Alyaksandr Iharavich Rybak () is a Belarusian-born Norwegian musician and actor. Based in Oslo, Norway, Rybak extensively worked on television programs and on tours in Europe, particularly in S ...

. Frikar Dance Company has toured 29 countries with halling dance the last years. The company's founder and choreographer Hallgrim Hansegård is known as the reinventor of halling, exploring the tradition in meeting with new artistic expressions and arenas as for example in the computer game "Age of Conan".''Norwegian halling dance heads to Eurovision 2009'' (Multe Music)
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References

External links

The history of hallingdansDancers performing the Halling (Multe Music)The home page of Frikar Dance CompanyThe youtube channel of Frikar Dance CompanyGeirr Tveitt's Piano Concerto No. 5: Finale in Spotify
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halling (Dance) Norwegian folk dances Norwegian folk music Partner dance Nordic folk music Dance in Norway