Bondeungdomslaget i Narvik

Norwegian Folk Dance is the general term for old pair dances, regional dances and song-dances which constitute folk dancing in Norway. Hulda Garborg, the Norwegian authoress (1862 – 1934), initiated the revival of the song-dance in Norway at the turn of the 20^th Century. This was subsequently followed up by the Norwegian folklorist, choreographer, and folk-dance educator Klara Semb (1884 – 1970). The folk-dance movement was an important part of the national revival movement which aimed at preserving Norwegian folk songs, folk dances, folk music, regional costumes, and the Neo-Norwegian language (Ny Norsk). It gave new life to much that was forgotten and saved a good deal of Norway’s national heritage. Folk dancing clubs like BUL Narvik had great respect for the national culture of Norway. Like Norges Godtemplar Ungdomsforbund (NGU, founded 1909), BUL Narvik had an anti-alcohol and anti-drug policy. It created fun and including environments for youth through local activities, educational courses, folk dance activities and other events and was politically independent and religiously neutral.

The national government supports the folk-dance movement and gives grants to teacher education, and folk-dance clubs. A special council within Noregs Ungdomslag (The Youth League of Norway) is responsible for the promotion of folk-dance and organises regular courses and leader training.

It was Hulda Garborg’s visit to Narvik with Det norske Spellaget and the performance of Neo-Norwegian (Nynorsk) plays, that inspired Peter Nordsjø to found Bondeungdomslaget i Narvik shortened to BUL Narvik (Bondeungdomslag /Country Youth Club) on the 4^th of March 1913 only a decade after the establishment of Narvik city. BUL Narvik was affiliated with Noregs Ungdomslag (The Youth League of Norway) with members who came to Narvik from nearby fishing and farming communities. Its active folk dance group had many inspiring folk-dance leaders including Einar Mortensen, winner of Narvik culture prize in 1984 and The King’s Medal in 1989. Their aim was to promote regional dances and sustain local communities through public cultural activities. BUL gave public performances and, on several occasions, hosted nation-wide festivals where many dancers from all over Norway took part. In 1934 Noregs Ungdomslag organized their national conference in Narvik with thousands of visiting dancers and notorieties like Klara Semb present. BUL Narvik had a wealth of other activities in addition to the ones mentioned earlier, including planting forests, staging plays, organizing skiing trips and the like.  BUL Narvik established Ofoten Museum now Museum Nord.

In the second year of activity in 1914, BUL built their own club locality in the center of Narvik, Tøttevangen. It had a popular café with three Johan Løvholt’s paintings which are now exhibited at Museum Nord as well as a dancing hall. Tøttevangen, also called Bondeheimen, existed for 63 years until the club was forced to part with it after it went bankrupt 1977. BUL spent the next four decades in a nomadic wandering between different dancing localities. Studiosalen in Folkets Hus was used for many years, but complaints about «high heeled shoes damaging the floor», and cancellations at short notice, made it necessary to use other localities for their dance meetings and courses. Needless to say, folk dancers don’t as a rule, use stilettos. Some members also felt that the club did not have sufficient status to be prioritized over other organizations’ activities in Folkets Hus.

The reasons for dwindling attendance in BUL are complex. Despite changes in society and people’s leisure activities many folk-dance clubs in Norway have aged without maturing. In earlier farming communities dance was a part of daily life and people danced in their barns, on the commons and at weekend parties. With the modernization of dance, instruction became professionalized and moved into studios and dance lost its role as a community meeting place. Furthermore, families had more disposable income and could better afford the instruction fees in these schools. This national trend may also be the case with BUL Narvik. In 1962, BUL’s folk dance course for children attracted 120 children and the club was at its height in the late 1960’s. However, when BUL lost the court case in the mid 1980’s in the wake of the bankruptcy of Tøttavangen, the club’s membership declined. After a period of regrowth from the 1990s up until the early – 2000s membership once again dropped. In the words of long-time BUL leader, Einar Mortensen, «We constantly discussed the best ways to recruit young people. /…/ However, many young people today think that old time dancing (gammeldans) is no longer “cool”.» [i] Another reason contributing to the decline in the Children’s Club was the move in the late 1980’s to an inappropriate training locality away from the center of Narvik in Ankeneshallen. The loss of their own club locality had negative consequences for the club’s community.

Despite the very best efforts of teachers like Malin Eriksen, winner of the Sprellemanns’ prize in 1996, children and their parents increasingly chose other recreational activities and interests from an ever-widening choice of pastimes. There is a limit to how many activities children can participate in, and folk dance was not one of them, especially for boys. Parents often became personally involved in their children’s activities and it seems that parents were no longer motivated to have their children learn Norwegian folk dance or learn it themselves. It doesn’t matter how hard a leader works to attract newcomers and keep regular dancers; dance evenings still must be fun. Likewise, it can sometimes be difficult to replace a teacher/leader who retires or leaves town. Narvik Barnelaget (Children’s Dance Club) was disbanded in 2001 due to a lack of members.

At their height BUL had over 100 members. When they celebrated their 100 years anniversary in March 2013, this had dwindled to twenty active (grey haired) dancers, the youngest at 50 and the oldest at 91.[ii] The club was disbanded in 2019.

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[i] «70 år med bonde kulturen i Narvik», Fremover 24.09.2983 p.14

[ii] Martinsen, 2013

Photo: Noregs Ungdomslag landsstevne i Narvik, 1969. Source: https://digitaltmuseum.no/021016830122/noregs-ungdomslag-landsstevne-i-narvik-b-u-l-bonde-ungdoms-lag