About Skandinöje

Skandinöje is New Jersey's only regular all Scandinavian couple dance group. We dance traditional couple dances from Sweden and Norway, and one or two from Denmark and Finland. Most of the dancing is done to recorded music, although we occasionally are lucky to have live music. (If you are a musician who plays Scandinavian music, we'd love to have you join us!) Although almost all the dances are couple dances, many dancers come without a partner. We encourage people to dance with different partners throughout the evening.

There are several categories of Scandinavian dances. Gammaldans, such as schottis or vals (waltz), means dances known over most of the Scandinavian countries. Bygdedans means dances from a specific region or village. Many of the bygdedans are named after the town where they come from, such as polska från Åmot (polska from the town of Åmot). A polska is a category of traditional Swedish dance form with three beats per measure. There are many different kinds of polska. A waltz also has three beats per measure, but in a waltz (Swedish vals), there is more emphasis on the first beat, while in a polska tune the three beats receive more or less equal weight.

We are a friendly group and very encouraging to beginners. After all, we were all beginners once. There are many easy dances and mixers, as well as some more challenging dances. Many of our dancers enjoy the social atmosphere, and we always have plenty of refreshments to munch on.

Skandinöje began in 1993, and we are in our 13th year. In 2003 we celebrated our 10th anniversary with a big party! We are a recreational dance group rather than a performing group, but occasionally we will do performances, such as for the annual Scandinavian Fest on Labor Day weeend.

Where does the name Skandinöje come from? The name is a combination of "Skandi" meaning Scandinavian and "nöje", a Swedish word meaning pleasure or enjoyment. "Nöje" also suggests New Jersey or North Jersey. There are other Scandinavian dance groups in the northeast, but none quite like Skandinöje!

We hope you will come and visit us and see how much you like Scandinavian dancing!