We had two final concerts, one of which was sold out and the other almost full, on Thursday (21 May) and Friday (22 May) of the last week. Once again we students chose everything that would be in the concert, and then were very well prepared by our teachers in a series of rehearsals.
Warming up our voices together before the concert. We sang at the beginning and end of the concert.
Bison polska by Olov Johansson, with Amy on banjo and Lirica on nyckelharpa.
Dancing Bondpolska från Viksta with Jesper.
I have included photos from both concerts. I appear in photos from the second night, when my daughters were in the front row with my camera.
My daughters getting off the Upptåget in Tobo!
Both concerts ended with dance evenings with wonderful music.
It was such a joy to have my daughters come to Sweden and see our final concert. We also enjoyed traveling around together in the week after the end of school. We spent time in Stockholm and in Dalarna, then flew home together on June 2.
It was an amazing year of study at the Eric Sahlström Institute. I am really glad I did it, and also very happy to be back home in the USA.
Sonia,
Sounds like a very happy ending to a wonderful year ! Amanda writes to me that I should not leave Sweden to quickly at the end of my year. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with a few friends that I met while I was there, both with you and with Amanda. Looking forward to an intense and satisfying year. Ginny
What’s the story behind the Big Foot in the photo of the singers?
We performed a song we learned from Eva Tjörnbo, called “Dansa vill du” that came from Skåne. It was a polska with a nice bluesy 2nd half.
The words are:
Dansa vill du o dansa vill ja
men skorna dom är för trånga (x2)
De e inte skorna som ä för små
tårna di ä för långa (x2)
Roughly meaning, “You will dance and I will dance, but the shoes are too narrow and too small and the toes are too long”.
Ditte happened to have a large stuffed foot (and hand) at her house! She brought them in and Taija did a funny pantomime with the large foot at the end of our song.