Dance
DANS
A dance group
for all
The Scandinavian board members and volunteers work year-round to strengthen our community through our cultural heritage. That’s the heart of this project — it always has been. Traditional dance is a big part of our community, and a great experience for the children, youth and adults who participate. The Scandinavian Festival has six local dance groups. Click the photos below to learn more information and get connected.
JC Scandia
Children Dancers
Practice Info
Children’s Dance Program
The children’s dance program takes place every summer, culminating with performances at the Junction City Scandinavian Festival, held the second weekend of August.
Practice
We meet for practice at Festival Park Stage on Monday evenings, starting in June after summer break begins for the Junction City school district. (Check our announcements for this year’s dates.) Each age group practices consecutively, starting with the three- through five-year-olds at 6pm, ending with the 9th grade and older group at 8pm. (See our blog for all practice times.)
Dress Rehearsal
The first full-dress performance takes place the Monday before Festival. We meet at Festival Park Stage for pictures, then walk down to Junction City Retirement and Assisted Living (500 E 6th Ave) for the performance.
Performances
Later that week, dancers perform twice a day, all four days of Festival, with age groups scheduled consecutively from youngest to oldest. Timing may vary year to year, so check the announcements for current info.
Nordurljos
Nordurljos (pronounced “Nor-dur-loose), is a middle school-age folk dance group that is directed by Jeff Peterson. The group meets weekly, October to August. Nordurljos expands on the foundations taught in the Summer Children’s Group, with more complex dances and steps. Nordurljos, which is Icelandic for “northern lights”, performs twice daily during the Festival, and occasionally has opportunities to perform outside of the Festival.
New members are welcome to join October through the new year. There is no cost to be in the group. The only requirements are that dancers need to have appropriate costume and participate regularly in practices in order to perform. For more information, please contact Jeff Peterson.
Kansantansijat
Kansantansijat (pronounced con-son-taun-see-ah) is high school group which primarily performs at the Junction City Scandinavian Festival. They start practicing after Spring Break and run through the Junction City Scandinavian Festival in August. Practice is held on Friday nights from 6:00-7:00pm.
The name Kansantansijat is Finnish for “folk dancers”. This group has been performing at the Festival for more than 30 years! Kay Slaton is the current director and teacher for the group. The group performs Scandinavian dances at their twice daily performances at the Junction City Scandinavian Festival. The group also helps with Festival Park Stage set-up and the Community Dancers performances.
Adult Recreational FolkDancers
Adult Recreation Folkdancers was the original group created for the first Scandinavian Festival, and has performed every year since then. They perform twice daily during the Scandinavian Festival. The group meets on the first Sunday of every month to practice their dances.
New members are welcome. There is no cost to be in the group. The only requirement is that dancers need to have appropriate costume in order to perform. For more information, please contact Dave and Melany Vaughan through their group Facebook page.
Skandia Leikarringen
Skandia Leikarringen (pronounced Scan-dee-uh Lake-er-ing-en) is an adult Scandinavian folk dance group located in Junction City, Oregon. This group practices weekly, year round. They primarily dance at the Junction City Scandinavian Festival twice daily, each August.
This group has also performed at ScanFair in Portland, the Astoria Midsummer Festival, area retirement centers, Oktoberfests and the Lane County Fair. In the Fall, they perform German dances with costuming from the Bavarian region of Germany at local Oktoberfests. Please reach out to Brad and Debbie Lemhouse with questions.
Nordiska Folkdanssändare
Nordiska Folkdanssändare means Nordic folk dance emissaries in Swedish. This is a traveling dance group formed in Junction City, Oregon in concert with the Scandinavian Cultural Foundation of Junction City (SCF). Our purpose is to promote Scandinavian culture through participation in other festivals and events by traveling and performing traditional Scandinavian dances while promoting our town’s own Scandinavian heritage. This group practices weekly.
