2026 Summer Workshop Instructors and Registration

The HFAA is delighted to present some of the most accomplished teachers of the music and dance tradition of Valdres, Norway.*

Jan Beitohaugen Granli, Level 4 Hardingfele.  Jan grew up in Rogne, in the Øystre Slidre area of the Valdres valley. He started fiddle studies when he was six, inspired by the playing of his great uncle.  Jan studied at the local cultural school with master fiddler Trygve Bolstad for twelve years, and many recognized his great talent for the instrument. During that time he also began to teach, learning the craft by doing. 

Later Jan attended the Rauland Academy in Telemark, where he not only studied but also worked teaching hardingfele in the culture schools in the county. After a one year pause in studies, Jan landed at the Ole Bull Academy, where he spent another two years refining his craft. He returned to Valdres thereafter, and began his work in the culture school, teaching the next generation of incredibly skilled fiddlers. 

Known as brilliant technician, outstanding performer, and skillful yet demanding teacher, Jan is no stranger to competition either. He is one of a tiny handful of fiddlers to have won the national fiddle competition six times and continues to teach and compete. He makes his home now in Volda where he farms, and teaches in the culture school in Ålesund.

Knut Arne Jacobsen, Dance. Knut Arne started as a folk dancer in 1975 and has danced ever since. His goal has always been to transmit culture and traditional knowledge from the past to younger generations. Knut is also a skilled traditional storyteller and folk singer. He has participated in many classes oriented towards dance teachers through the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Knut lives in Rogne in upper Valdres, and has taught innumerable workshops both in Norway and the US together with his dance partner Brit Totland.

Brit Berthelsen Totland, Dance. Brit started dancing at the age of 17. She joined several folk-dance groups in Oslo, and participated in various courses to become a folkdance teacher, including folk dancing for children, which she has taught for almost 30 years. She began teaching valdresspringar in 1983. She then began to participate in the National Competition (Landskappleik) in 1987, and was elevated to the A-class in 1988. Brit learned the Valdres springar from various couples from Valdres, including the tradition bearers Berit and Knut Steinsrud from Øystre Slidre, Valdres. She has been dancing and teaching together with Knut Arne since the 1980's.

*Pending visa approval.

Our instructors for Level 1, 2 and 3 hardingfele classes are some of the most skilled and experienced in the US.

Loretta Kelley, Level 3 Hardingfele. Loretta has been playing, teaching and writing about the Hardanger fiddle for more than 30 years. Nominated for a Grammy award in 2007, she has made appearances on Prairie Home Companion and taught extensively at Scandinavian folk dance and music camps throughout the US, including many times at the HFAA's summer workshops. Her very-frequent travels to Norway keep her in touch with the music scene there, including visiting fiddle and dance competitions and playing for dances.

Rachel Nesvig, Level 2 Hardingfele. Rachel spent 5 years of her childhood living in Stavanger, Norway. She grew up listening to Norwegian folk music and was incredibly excited to start playing the Hardanger fiddle at age 16 in Tacoma, WA. She continued on to become the first student at St. Olaf College to receive Distinction in Hardanger Fiddle in 2007. She taught the beginning Hardanger fiddle course at the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America’s Annual Workshop in 2009. She has studied fiddle both in the US and in Norway with various teachers including Andrea Een, Karin Code, Dag Hovde, and Karin Solgård. One of Rachel’s current projects is curating her YouTube channel, which is dedicated solely to the Hardanger fiddle. She also has recorded her Hardanger fiddle playing for video games, including Minecraft: Norse Mythology by Gareth Coker, Pode by Austin Wintory and Rend by Neal Acree. Composing new fiddle pieces while fusing new and old traditions with Hardanger fiddle continues to be one of Rachel’s passions.

Gus Holley, Level 1 Hardingfele. Gus has fiddled with the Fargo Spelemannslag in Fargo-Moorhead since 2016, helping to revitalize and promote Hardanger fiddle playing and building in Minnesota and North Dakota. He studied Norwegian folk music at the University of South-Eastern Norway in Rauland, Telemark in 2018, and has also been involved with the Bay Area Hardingfelelag in California since 2020. Gus has taught hardingfele lessons since 2023. He is currently pursuing a PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of California, Berkeley.