PRESS RELEASE - 2006
January, 2006, New York, NY, USA – The year 2006 marks the 100th anniversary of The Swedish Folkdancers of New York. In commemoration of this event, the Folkdancers are performing at many exciting venues throughout the year with a planned trip to Sweden in July to visit with other folk dance groups and to participate in the tri-annual Nordlek Folk Festival to be held in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 24th through July 29th.
The Swedish Folkdancers hold the honor of being the oldest ethnic Folkdance Group in continuous activity in the United States. Their history is an interesting compilation of events and successes. In 1905, a musician from America, Måns Olson visited the famous open-air museum Skansen in Stockholm, Sweden, to listen to traditional Swedish folk music and to watch some traditional folk dancing. His enthusiasm for what he saw led him to believe that others in the USA would also enjoy the sights and sounds of this Swedish heritage.
Måns became friends with some of the dancers and talked to them about the possibility of traveling to the USA to perform. Thinking back on those times, it is hard to imagine that a group of dancers and musicians would even consider such a trip since to travel to the US would require a two week boat trip, plus raising their own travel expenses. A 1950 article in the Swedish publication "Hembygden" describes Swedish-Americans of the early 1900’s as being overly optimistic of life in the States and presenting the appearance of America as having "streets paved with gold."
Måns was quite successful in his approach to this Swedish group and with very little preparation they embarked in early 1906 for America. 6 couples and 2 violinists arrived in New York City on February 6, 1906 with little money in their pockets and no performances lined up. Charles K. Johanson, owner of the Swedish-American newspaper Nordstjernan, discovering the group having such difficulty, secured lodging for them at the Swedish Emigrant Home and attempted to arrange some performances for them. New York City, unfortunately, proved to be a dismal opportunity, and the group was sent to Chicago, Illinois, home to a large Swedish-American population. Chicago turned out to be a wonderful opportunity.
On February 10th, just 4 days after arriving in New York, the group performed to a sell-out crowd of 8,000 persons, in a large auditorium in Chicago. They were welcomed with "thunderous applause." With a few dollars in their pockets they now successfully returned to New York City performing on 27 occasions with their New York debut occurring at Tammany Hall in lower Manhattan.
The group finally returned to Sweden after bringing an important part of Swedish heritage to the US. 2 members of the original group remained in New York – Kerstin Andersson and Anders Lustig. Later in 1906 C. G. Bjerstedt met with Anders Lustig and members of the Swedish Gymnastic Society at a Crayfish party to discuss the possibility of organizing a Swedish folk dance group here in New York. On November 14, 1906, C. G. Bjerstedt and Gustav Arbil founded the Swedish Folkdance Society and became the groups first dance leaders. The mission of the Society was to preserve and develop the Swedish folk dance traditions from all parts of Sweden in the US, especially to the younger generation. This mission is still carried out today.
In the 1930’s the Society split into 2 distinct groups . . . the "Swedish Folkdance Society" and the "Swedish Folkdance Ringen." Both groups continued the Swedish folk dance traditions until in 1967 they again merged into one group called the "Swedish Folkdancers of New York."
For both groups, performances abounded . . . Lucia Pageants, performances at Colleges and Universities, at the Worlds Fair, in Europe, at numerous Swedish and Scandinavian events throughout the tri-state area, at museums, Concert Halls, for the King and Queen of Sweden, Arts centers, Lincoln Center, Statue of Liberty, Central Park, at the Høstfest in Minot, North Dakota, at restaurants, department stores and on and on.
The history of activity of this organization is varied and prolific. To this day they are a group of fun, friendship and ethnic importance as they seek to preserve the culture of bygone days.
Peter Norrman