Volume 5 Number 3 October, 2001 Find NGLS online at www.ngls.net

Annual General Meeting Location Change

By Don Larson

The Annual General Meeting of the NGLB&S has been re-located to Anita Siegel?s home, Los Altos, CA from 2:00 until 5:00 P.M. on Saturday October 13th.Her home is located at 77 Mountain View Avenue in Los Altos, CA. Driving to her home from Freeway 280 -- exit East (towards the Bay) on El Monte Road. Turn South on Springar Rd. Turn Left onto Raymundo. Turn right on Mountain View Avenue and park after crossing the bridge. Questions can be directed to Anita -- (650) 961-3572.

Bylaws amendments to be voted on at this AGM were mailed in the September edition of PolSnus. This edition contains an article from Mikkel which discusses the 2002 tour to the Midwest. Please think about the four itinerary options prior to the AGM.
 

By Mikkel Thompson

We have just experienced a wonderful weekend at Skandi-Fest in Turlock with moderate temperatures. The Leikarring and their musicians (4 performances), the Barneleikarring and their musicians (2 performances) and the Spelemannslag (2 performances) did exciting and well received presentations. Many participated in the parade, also. The avenue of the tents was the largest ever with well organized potlucks and food preparations. The best thing about the weekend for me is the bonding of the group, seeing each other more than once a week and in a different light, bright sun or mellow full moon.

On a personal note. If you vote me in at the AGM, I have agreed to stay on as Artistic Director for another year with co-directors, Meg, Gerd and Ginny Lee, leading the classes when I am out of town. This will be for longer periods of time as I will be working in Minnesota with my father, off and on for several months and I will be in Sweden for Christmas and other visits. I will review old choreography, teach new dances as desired, and continue working on the Woman?s Suite. I will focus on Norway Day 2002, the Amerikappleik Tour 2002 and Skandi-Fest 2002. If you decide to audition for the SFEDF in Jan. Ginny Lee will lead the rehearsals. We will take dances and choreography that we have been performing and just polish it.

Do you want a Christmas Party? Joint with Traveling Dance Class, Leikarring, Spelemannslag and Barneleikarring? Second Sunday in Dec.?

Don't forget Camp Norge Folkedans Stevne with Gunnulf Sletta from Tuddal, Norway teaching Telespringar, Hardanger fiddle with Toby Weinberg from Boston and accordion with Bill Likens. If anyone could/would volunteer to help with food preparation, I would greatly appreciate it. There are work scholarships available. If you would like to have special dances taught, difficult or easy, or special teachers brought in, please tell me. We make decisions based on those that attend. We get a bigger turnout for certain types of dance and music, but I try to alternate between turdans and bygdedans, fiddle, hardingfele and accordion. I am pursuing a week long teacher training course at Alta the week after Easter leading into the spring Camp Norge Folkedans Stevne with Noregs Ungdomslag teachers from Norway. We will start a course based on one in Norway to teach teachers how to teach Norwegian folk dance. Please talk to me if you like this time and idea. We are also planning a family dance weekend again at Alta this winter. Talk to Ginny Lee, Ginny Hansen or I. This camp is good for children, even though they are welcome at all camps. Ha det godt. Helsing, Mikkel

By Mikkel Thompson

A year ago at our AGM, Nordahl Grieg Leikarring decided to tour the Midwest with the final destination being the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America event titled Amerikappleik. NGL member, Ruth Sylte, is the main organizer and made a personal invitation for us to attend. NGL, NGS and NGB decided to go. We now have to make some decisions and commitments. We would like to have everyone seriously interested make a $50 fully refundable (until May 1, 2002) deposit, so that those people traveling can make some decisions. I will list four options with some variables. The sooner we make these decisions, the easier the planning will be.

Option 1. The original idea was to take two weeks and travel cross-country by van (or bus) with sight-seeing and performing, ending up at Decorah, Iowa for their Nordic Fest on July 26 - 27, and then attend Amerikappleik at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota on July 31 - Aug. 3. We would then fly home on Sun. 4th of Aug. We have been invited to perform for and be hosted by several Sons of Norway lodges along the way.

Leave Bay Area on:

Sat. July 20, to Salt Lake City (12 - 14 hours) and stay in hotel.

Sun. 21 to Grand Junction, CO, perform and hosting by SoN

Mon. 22 sightseeing through Rocky Mountain National Park ending in Denver or Colorado Springs.

Tues. 23 perform in Colorado Springs and hosted by SoN

Wed. 24 Travel through Black Hills, South Dakota, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse and end in Rapid City, SD.

Thur. 25 perform in Rapid City and hosted by SoN.

Fri. 26 travel to Decorah, IA stay at dorms at Luther College

Sat. 27 perform and experience Nordic Fest and Vesterheim in Decorah.

Sun. 28 (same)

Mon. 29 free or travel to Stoughton, Wisconsin,

Tues. 30 attend special concert and events in Stoughton, WI

Wed. 31 travel to St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN

Thur. - Sat. Amerikappleik, workshops, performances, concerts, competitions with lodging and food at dorms.

Sun. 4 Amerikappleik ends and fly home to Bay Area.

Option 2. Elizabeth Hansen had this idea for one week:

Fri. July 26, to Reno and Ely, NV and hotel,

Sat. 27 Grand Junction, CO perform and hosting,

Sun. 28 Colorado Springs, CO perform and hosting,

Mon. 29 Rapid City, SD perform and hosting,

Tues. 30 Black Hills and Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse,

Wed. 31 travel to Northfield, Amerikappleik and dorms,

Thur. Aug. 1 through Sunday: Amerikappleik, workshops, performances, concerts.

Sun. 4 Fly home from Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP to SFO)

Option 3. Fly both ways and skip performances and hosting:

Fri. July 26 fly to MSP and bus to Decorah for Nordic Fest, stay in motels or dorms at Luther College.

Sat. 27 perform and experience Nordic Fest and Vesterheim

Sun. 28 same

Mon. 29 free or travel to Stoughton Wisconsin

Tues. 30 attend special concert and events in Stoughton

Wed. 31 travel to St. Olaf College in Northfield,

Thur. - Sat. Amerikappleik, workshops, concerts, performances, competitions with food and lodging at dorms.

Sun. 4 Amerikappleik ends and fly home to SFO

Option 4. Leave and return in the middle of the week, skip Nordic Fest and Stoughton, and drive both ways with rented vans.

Wed. 24 July through Wed. 7 Aug.

What do you think? We need feedback. Attend the AGM from 2 - 5 on Sat. 13 Oct. at Anita's home in Mt. View or write someone on the board your opinions before the meeting. My opinion is the faster the trip, the easier it will be to get burn-out, especially for the children. Mikkel

Turlock Travel Guide

By Don Larson

You?ve seen the ?Europe on a Budget? travel guides. My 2001 Turlock Skandi-fest experience has inspired me to put electron to screen (vs. pen to paper) to write down how much quality entertainment we got out of our reasonably priced Turlock weekend.

1^st, figure out how to earn your room and board. I strapped my accordion on my chest -- good for admission, camping, and hospitality room. 2^nd make the best of your drives to and from Turlock. We loaded the car and drove over Mt. Hamilton -- leaving home at 3:45 on Friday. The drive was breathtaking. We saw deer and probably 16 or so Tully elk. This drive does take 3 to 4 hours, however, if you stop to enjoy the views.

We pitched our tent at dusk while enjoying the tunes of the brass band. The full moon lit our table for us to cook a tasty meal while our children enjoyed scooting and biking. (Note, children also love the train rides by day). After dinner, meet at the Finlandia stage for jamming and dancing. I played quietly along with a Finnish music set led by the talented accordionist, Kriss Larson. Later, I enjoyed dancing to his tangos

Music and dance lovers could fill up the entire day Saturday at the various stages performing in and watching performances. However, if you walk over to the horse arena, you can watch very talented riders performing showmanship events both on Saturday and Sunday. There were beautiful Norwegian Fjord horses and Icelandic horses participating.