Scandimoot & Digimoot

 

In 2014 Rowan Rheingans said, of learning traditional Scandinavian music,

 

   ‘You can do things informally; there’s lots of gatherings around, but not with tutors like these - not that I’ve come across. It’s a rare thing, to be able to spend a dedicated weekend working with someone who’s really an expert.’

   It would have been so much easier not to have run a Scandi event in some form this year.  But if we’d taken the easy option back in 2007, Scandimoot would never have come into existence - a huge loss. So we decided to create a digital version of our weekend gathering; the result is ‘Digimoot’.

 

   We are proud of our unbroken tradition of music and dance from Scandinavia in Yorkshire in May, which began in the late 1980s with Yorkshire Dales Workshops (thank you Geoff and Liz Bowen, and Fliss Patterson). YDW bloomed in the 90s, running day events and then annual residential weekends in music and dance from Scandinavia, and in those days was probably unique in the UK in hosting an event like that. Scandimoot took over the reins in 2007, when the funding for YDW ran out, and the May gatherings continued. And now the bloom has spread; there are hundreds of sessions, social media sites, and small and large groups of musicians and dancers in the UK who get together (when they can) to play and dance Scandi style, many of them influenced by their experiences at Scandimoot. Covid stopped us from meeting last year, but once is enough without some sort of event.

 

   The list of artists over the last 30 years who have performed and taught is seriously impressive, far too long to print here.  In 2012 as a typical example, Ellika Frisell, Bridget Marsden, Maja Gravermoen Toresen and Jon Holmén were musician/tutors and Jon Holmén played Boda polska for dance workshops taught by Petter Johansson and Katinka Kundler.

Many other guest artists are also now lauded and famous, but we only had to mention Digimoot and they offered their support, going to unsolicited lengths, finding time in busy schedules, and finding or generating high quality resources, sometimes at their own expense, just to help us.

 

   ‘Digimoot 2021’ will, we hope, be only an interruption in the live schedule of ‘mootings’ from Scandinavia.  It certainly won’t be the least. We have been able to create a really amazing programme which cuts across boundaries and borders for a true meeting of Scandinavian music and dance, digitally. 

 

   Welcome to Digimoot. As always:

     'Bringing the best of Scandinavian music and dance to the UK'