Norwegian Dance: Halling / Laus

The halling -- also known as "laus" (loose or free) -- is a traditional Norwegian folk dance usually danced by men.

Here are three of Norway's best halling dancers at the final Master Concert of the 2007 Landskappleik (Norwegian national folk music/dance competition) in Geilo, Norway: Eivind Bakken (Telemark), Hallgrim Hansegård (Valdres) and Martin Myhr (Hallingdal).

Here, we see the way this dance is authentically danced in tradition.

Each year a "kongepokal" (King's Prize) is given in one of the Landskappleik categories. 2007 was the kongepokal for halling. The MC announces this fact and that the three top competitors will now demonstrate their prowess at the dance and she will return and award the prize.

At this point, they guys are not competing because the winner has already been chosen - but not announced. They are simply demonstrating and having a great time playing with each other until the MC comes in to present the prize.

Hansegård is the director of FRIKAR dance company and was one of the backing dancers for Alexander Ryback's winning Eurovision entry in 2009.

Arnhild Brennesvik holds the stick with the hat and Kenneth De Gala plays hardingfele (Hardanger fiddle), Norway's unique fiddle.

Video by Jon Thore Bjork. Used by permission.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Hallgrim Hansegård
• Eivind Bakken
• Martin Myhr
• halling
• laus
• FRIKAR
• Eurovision
• Kenneth DeGala
• hardingfele
• hardanger fiddle
• norway
• norwegian
• Telemark
• Valdres
• Hallingdal
• Landskappleiken 2007
• norge
• hallingdans
• noreg
• Geilo
• Arnhild Brennesvik
• lausdans
• hallingkast
• dans
• dance
• folk dance
• hat kick
• hat
• kick
• stick
• violin
• Norway
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• Noreg
• live music
• fiddle
• traditional music
• folk music
• contest
• folkdance

[kimberk01]

This is fantastic! Thanks for posting! Best demo of the tradition I have seen on video!

Of course it is the best as these are the best at Halling! Loved it!

The laughter has to do with the audeince seeing the subtle competitive interplay between the dancers. Hard to see in low resolution and so far away.

[jacobfad]

@xoxNicKyLiiciOuSxox It's not that's it bad or comical. It's just that lack of space on the stage. Laus, as you can see, a very acrobatic dance and takes up alot of space. Their almost runing into eachother and at some points, where they've come to the point that they're kicking the hat of the stick, they're not sure of who goes first...and it creates a bit of confusion.

[xoxNicKyLiiciOuSxox]

I keep smiling. Why are the Norwegians so

adorable?! x'33 ♥

But... I still don't understand... It looked really good for me but ppl keep laughing. Is it some kind of comedy or something?

[BocaFriend]

Very, very cool! A fun and stylish way to bestow a trophy -- LOL. I'm amazed by what those dancers can accomplish in what I imagine to be a rather small space. Thanks for posting. ~Terry in South Florida