Here is a wonderful example of what is known as songdans (song dance) or langdans (long dance) or ringdans (ring dance). This type of dancing/storytelling goes back to at least Viking times.
These dances and stories were preserved in the Faroe Islands, where this video is from. The video is a great demonstration of this form of dance and storytelling:
- Men and women dance together, holding hands. The steps are simple, but there is constant movement and the group moves as one.
- It is storytelling. Notice how each verse is usually started by one voice and then others join in as they remember the lyrics. The person leading the story (or sometimes 2-3 who take turns) have a very important role to keep the story going.
- There are dancers in street clothes and some in tradtional folk costumes. It doesn't matter what you wear.
- Participation can be by simply moving with the group, leading the song, singing just the chorus. It is the communal spirit of the storytelling -- remembering -- that is important.
The story they are telling is a Faroese kvæå°i about the Norwegian king, Olav Tryggvason. One of the commenters on the YouTube page wrote:
Ormurin Langi takes its subject matter from the account well given in Heimskringla of the famous sea battle off the island of Svolder in 1000, when the Swedish and Danish kings, together with the Norwegian Eiråkr Hå¡konarson (Erik the Earl), attacked the Norwegian king, Olaf Trygvason (in the song I believe it's Ólav Tråºgvason), while he was on his way home from Wendland to Norway on his ship, Ormurin Langi (The Long Serpent), accompanied by his fleet.
This video goes on for almost 10 minutes. Be glad. Some of these songdances can go on for hours. The stories were that long -- and that good!
