Finnish-American Dance,
Live at the Festival

We are preparing quite a program . . .

fun and education for the whole family!

Look who's coming:

• Tanhuajat Dancers of Seattle celebrate their 30th Anniversary in May. They perform traditional Finnish folk dances in Finnish costumes. They recently performed at the FinnFest 2004 in Lake Worth, Florida.
• Our young ladies from Naselle look forward to the time that they too can carry the ribbons and dance in the Maypole Dance for our opening ceremonies. Their leader, Laura Swanson — who was a once a Maypole Dancer herself under the direction of her mother Barb Swanson — is on the rally squad at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Although Maypole Dancing is most often associated with a Swedish tradition, here in Naselle old timers remember it as a uniquely Finnish-American tradition in the spring of the school year.
• The Scandia Dancers of Astoria have appeared at all of our festivals. Founded as the Viking Dancers in 1971, they first performed at the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival in Astoria, Oregon. Astorian organizers thought it would be great to have their own dancing group to perform at the festival. We think it's great that the very same Scandia Dancers perform at our festival!
• Formed in 1986 as a break-out group from Tanhuajat Dancers of Seattle, the Katrilli Dancers of Seattle and Issaquah are as lively as ever. Many of their dances are from Karelia, but they also dance a mazurka they learned from a Finnish dance troupe they hosted in 1999. Their costumes are from all regions of Finland, although not all the dancers have a Finnish background. Leaders Bob and Patty Larson are a good example of the varied background of the dancers. Bob is of Finnish descent, familiar with folk dancing, whereas Patty is part Puerto-Rican with a background in teaching ballroom dances like the rumba and swing step. Gay Nixon accompanies them on accordion.
• Lilla Spelmanslag is a young group of girls sponsored by the Nordic Heritage Museum. Some of their parents are in the Swedish Dance group, Spelmanslag. (Lilla means little in Swedish; Splemanslag means folk dancers in Swedish.) They play the fiddle and break into dance as well. This group is a lot of fun!

We're booking more dancers, drawing up the schedule. Fun for children and adults!

See the festival day pages for Friday and Saturday for schedules of these dancers. A more detailed listing of performers will be placed on this page before the festival. Please return.