All activities take place during a single, four-day period each year at Folklore Village Farm, located in a peaceful, rural setting about seven miles east of Dodgeville, Wisconsin and about a 35-minute drive west of Madison. The beautiful, air-conditioned main hall includes a spacious sprung wooden dance floor and separate classrooms for fiddle instruction.

Workshops

Instruction begins on Thursday afternoon and ended with lunch on Sunday after a morning review session. Part-timers are welcome. See the registration form for options.

Hardingfele: Expect a nurturing environment that will help you acquire, develop, and deepen your skills as a Hardanger fiddler. You need not have played hardingfele or Scandinavian fiddle before, but you should have some solid fiddling skills. On Friday and Saturday mornings, hardingfele students divide into five classes depending on level of ability and interest. Workshop tunes are taught by ear, in a call and response method. (Students may download tunes from the HFAA Web site in advance of the weekend; written music transcriptions are available at the workshops.) Afternoons include private lessons, seminars on relevant topics, review sessions to prepare group (lagspel) tunes for evening dances, and assistance with fiddle maintenance.

Students will have the opportunity to:
review last year’s tunes
take private lessons with our American teachers
get coaching on dance fiddling
play for dance parties in a group (lagspel)
perform during Friday’s talent showcase

Private, 20-minute coaching sessions with the teachers can be scheduled throughout the weekend to help you solve your personal fiddling challenges. Sign up for a session at the registration desk. Fiddlers who would like to try hardingfele but do not have an instrument are welcome. Please indicate on the registration form that you would like to borrow an instrument (or that you have one to lend). If you have no fiddling experience but think you might be interested, you may audit the beginner’s class. E-mail hfcoordinator at hfaa dot org if you have any questions about hardingfele classes.

Dance: The HFAA does not set any gender limitations or experience prerequisites for our dance workshops. All are welcome. Instruction is tailored to both beginning and experienced dancers. Dancing in classes and at parties is to live hardingfele music. Morning dance classes will focus on the featured dance tradition for the workshop. Afternoon dance class will be either be additional teaching in the same tradition or a review of a previous year's featured dance. We may also offer lectures on hardingfele-related dance traditions, question-and-answer sessions, and an opportunity to view and discuss Norwegian dance videos.

NOTE: Dance and hardingfele classes are taught concurrently. If a student wishes to take classes in both, we recommend that he or she sign up for hardingfele on Friday and dance on Saturday. Our instructors will try to accommodate Saturday-only enrollees, but we recommend that students attend both the Friday and Saturday sessions, as Saturday's work builds on the work done on Friday.

And more . . .

Dance parties on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights will feature a variety of fiddlers, including our lagspel group, playing for dances from different regions of Norway.

Talent showcase: The annual Talent Showcase, which will take place on Friday night, is an opportunity for workshop participants to show their talent in traditional Norwegian music and dance. Performance slots are given on a first-come, first-served basis. Sign-up begins with registration on Thursday.

Festive Saturday evening includes a traditional Norwegian dinner (many choose to wear their bunads then), a parade of all fiddlers and a concert featuring our workshop teachers. The general public may purchase tickets for the concert at the door. Those not already participating in the workshop who wish to attend the dinner must reserve in advance using the workshop registration form.

Mini-workshops: Classes in kveding (Norwegian traditional singing), munnharpe (mouth harp), and seljefløyte (willow flute) will be offered in the afternoons.

Children and Teenagers
Children are welcome. Children who have the ability to participate in music and dance activities may attend the classes. There are no childcare facilities available, so parents should be prepared to watch their children and work cooperatively with other parents. Advance registration is required for all children. Teenagers are welcome to attend without a parent, but they must have an adult chaperone; contact Loretta Kelley (workshopchair at hfaa dot org) to make arrangements.

Room and Board
The Folklore Village staff prepares delicious meals for the enjoyment of all. They offer a vegetarian option but they do not accommodate specialized dietary restrictions. Please indicate on the registration form if you desire vegetarian meals. No discount in the registration price is given for meals not eaten at Folklore Village.