Elle Sofe Henriksen
Is there a Sami folkdance?
only went to school a couple of months out of the year. I find the spiritual practices and knowledge particularly interesting. I have documented and learned traditional movements, dance, customs, joik, and stories in the Sami language. Having this knowledge, accessible from living sources in my own language and culture is important to me.
There is a Sami folk dance, which I’ve explored in my performance Jorggahallan. There are certain ways of moving that one might call Sami. But there is not a public, standardized Sami folk dance like Norwegian folk dancing. I don’t think the Sami believe there is a Sami dance.
Gaikut boahkánis Dra i beltet Pulling in the belt
Rámbbon láhkái gieđa vuohtut Vugge armen på en skrytete måte Moving your arms in a bragging way
Váccašit guovtte—guvlui Gå frem og tilbake To walk back and forth
Jorggáhallat Plutselig snu seg rundt (for å vise fram seg selv og kofta) Quickly turning, showing off your gákti dress
Njuikestallat juolgetbeal alde Småhoppe på en fot Jumping slightly on one foot Sallut birra-čeahpálaga Holde rundt hverandre Embracing one another
Čearčut armene i kryss, småhoppe og holde beina fra hverandre Crossing the arms, jumping slightly while keeping your legs apart
Feara movt gieđaiguin fáipput Vifte med armene på diverse måter Waving your arms around in all sorts of ways
Čeavžut Gå frem og tilbake med knærne bøyd utover Walking back and forth with your knees bent outwards
In 2011, I filmed three traditional joikers, especially their hands while they were joiking. When people are joiking, they keep their fists closed and cradled in a certain way. I looked into this and asked the joikers why they placed their hands in that way. Since then, people have begun to call the cradle of the hands joikhand as my film was also called. Previously the term hadn’t been used in Sami nor Norwergian. Through investigations you can conclude the dance that already existed.
contemporary art or dance. I am often faced with uncertainty as to whether my work fits their profile because my work seems so colourful and culturally/ethnically specific, and thus not follow a contemporary dance norm. I think there is a big difference in aesthetics, especially in the use of colour between western cultures and non-western cultures. In Western contemporary dance there are often dark or neutral colours in the costumes, possibly colourful retro clothing. In a Sami context there are completely different colours that apply, and at least another colour symbolism. There is no tradition to use dark colours since this is often associated with grief.
What do you think about making artistic work based on a culture that you yourself belong to, and the implications of that work? I often find that my performances and short films aren’t always seated in the national and international contexts for
Aesthetics is one of the things that is different. Then there are several factors concerning content, codes, values, language, knowledge, culture, which
Through conversations with the elders I’ve found terms and concepts I didn’t know, which gave me information on different movement customs:
Lihkahusaide boahtit komme i religiøs rørelse Entering into religious trance/ movement Jođášit Bevege seg rundt Moving around Sojadit Bøye, Gynge Swaying Jorrat Snurre Spinning
are also relevant when a work of art is being considered. Appearances are deceptive. One thinks that the colourful non-western art forms are cultural stuff; it is not modern dance or contemporary art, which can be quite narrow. I took a course on Sami art with Hanna Horsnerg Hansen from UIT: I was influenced by her thoughts on how we look at art, and how Western art is the norm and how Sami art isn’t considered contemporary. How Sami artists and art always have to be in a specialized unit and not a part of the Norwegian art history. I think there remains a lot of work for us who work with contemporary dance starting from a non western culture.
Translated into English by Runa Borch Skolseg
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