Faroese dance

The Faroese dance (Faroese: Føroyskur dansur, Danish: Kædedans) is the national circle dance of the Faroe Islands, accompanied by kvæði, the Faroese ballads.

The dance is a typical mediaeval ring dance. The dance is danced traditionally in a circle, but when a lot of people take part in the dance they usually let it swing around in various wobbles within the circle.

When dancing there are a few rules. One is that your right hand must overlap the left hand of the one next to you while moving your feet two paces to a side and one pace back. The side is chosen by the skiparin, captain. The skiparin is the one who sings and must know all the verses, while the people who are dancing with him in the circle join in at the chorus.

The following description is by V. U. Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi, 1891:

The storyline of the ballad is attended by everybody with great interest, and if something especially pleasant or moving occurs, it can be seen in the look and movement of the dancers – when the rage of the battle is described, the hands are clenched together, and when victory is in hand, the dancers make cheering movements.

The dance in itself only consists in holding each other's hands, while the dancers form a circle. When more and more dancers join the dance ring, the circle starts to bend and forms a new one within itself, and if the number of dancers is high enough and the space in the room allows it, a new one will form within that one too – but of course still in one unbroken circle or chain. This means that every dancer has to follow these curves of the chain, and soon is in the outer circle, then in the middle of the chain. The dancers thereby pass each other face to face twice in each round.

The tunes of the ballads are in sixth bars and accompanied by a rhythmical, monotonous stamping of the feet. The most common version of the dance is the “stígingarstev” [stamping dance step].

This consists of the dancers slowly moving to their left, with six dance steps between the bars:

and then all over again, between the bars, until the ballad is over. If it is a solemn ballad, which is sung in a slow tempo, then the dance goes at a leisurely pace.

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