The Herräng Report, It's still goin' on, but I'm back :)

[ThatAdamGuy]

Hey there,

As BayCanuck politely but firmly reminded me in another thread, I have up-til-now shirked in my duty regarding a Herräng update. So, rectifying this horrendous oversight, I'm finally here with a Herräng post :)

For those in the unknow, Herräng is the name of a tiny tiny village north of Stockholm (Sweden), whose main (only?) claim to fame is that it is the home of the world's largest swing dance camp, with the locals being flooded with about 600-800 folks from around the world and 24-hour-a-day loud swing music for four weeks each year.

I've had the good fortune and insanity to attend the camp for two weeks both this year and last year, and I just returned from this year's trip a few days ago. I was vacationing in the east coast (US) and Europe for 5 weeks in total, and you can see a barebones itinerary list here. Perhaps by the time you're reading this, I'll have updated that page with more descriptive info, but don't hold your breath.

As was the case last year, Herräng was crazy, wonderous, frustrating, hilarious, warm, magical, and... surreal. The only way to truly understand Herräng is to go there. Combine equal parts Camp (boy scout / girl scout / school camp, etc.), a dance marathon, dance classes with tired and wacky teachers, college dorms, any Lindy Exchange, a large youth hostel (complete with the young and young-at-heart), and any reality TV show (e.g., Real World), and that gives you an idea.

At Herräng, you've got 4 hours of set classes (Lindy, Tap, or Boogie Woogie) and often 1 hour of a 'special' class (Tango, Salsa, Balboa, whatever) 6 days a week. Add to this a nightly "meeting" which lasts around an hour, and, of course, the evening social dance which goes from around 10 or 11pm 'til the last couple goes home (usually around 5-7am). Up 'til 1am, there are both the larger Lindy floor upstairs (indoors) and the Dance Banan (outdoor gazebo/platform), affectionately referred to by us obnoxious Americans as The Dance Banana. This outdoor venue closes at 1am, to give the neighbors at least a LITTLE more peace and quiet (though realistically, you can hear the music from the main floor many many blocks away, even at 6:17 am, as I know from firsthand experience).

Of course, there's not only dancing at Herräng; you can (and often do) shop at the local country-store / post office kinda place a few blocks down the road... unsurprisingly the ONLY store in the village. This is also the home of the only publically accessible computer, (barely) running on what seems to be a late 1980's era 486 computer connected by dialup to the net at a peak "speed" of 38kbps. After a while, most of us resign ourselves to the realization that it's more affordable, efficient and fun to communicate by postcards and/or smoke signals.

There's also the beach about 20 walking-distance away, with cold but refreshing water, nice sunning rocks, and beautiful views. And just 1 minute from the central camp is a cute lake and two camp-owned rowboats which are creaky but serviceable.

Of course, the camp itself always features at least a handful of non-dance diversions. The much-loved standbys every year are the Blue Moon Cafe (full service from noon to 3am or so, self-service other times) with simply amazing desserts, the Bar Bedlam (seemingly open 24 hours a day) with nearly any alcohol you could want (and often cool entrees like pirogis, lasagna, whatever), and the too-tempting Lindy Hop shop with swing videos, CD's, shoes, shirts, bags, etc. etc. etc.

Each year there's also something strange and new. Last year was a swimming pool, and not just the inflatable type, either. This year, there were several large trampolines set up. And of course, there's always the comfy hammock.

Ah, and I almost forgot... they also put in a new Ice Cream Parlor, which aside from tasty ice cream offered fresh sandwich wraps, drinks, and salads.

One of the favorite and most common gathering places is unsurprisingly Restaurant Yum Yum, the cafeteria for which most campers purchase a breakfast/dinner meal plan. The (truly Swedish) Chef, Jonas, is jolly, round, meticulous, dedicated, funny, and a damn fine cook. Jonas' son attends camp, which is perhaps yet another reason why this guy takes such care in keeping people well-fed and happy. While breakfasts weren't terribly remarkable (are they ever in Europe?), dinners included fresh salads every night and fine entrees choices such as Fresh Swedish Moose with red wine sauce, Fresh Grilled Salmon with cream dill sauce, Curry Shrimp with noodles or rice, and of course every night also a veggie option such as stuffed eggplant with peppers and other assorted delicious stuff.

Ah, but I haven't talked about the dancing yet, eh?

Well, I'm gonna go ahead and post this, and I'll plan on continuing later with tidbits about the classes, social dancing, general ups and downs. As you can gather by this point, though, what makes this camp special is that it's not JUST about dancing, so I wanted to at least give you an idea about the atmosphere and offerings before jumping into the dance nitty gritty stuff :)

And of course, feel free to ask any questions here. I've already heard from many of you in person that you're seriously considering a trip to Herräng next year, and I'd like to do anything I can to encourage this!

[ThatAdamGuy]

THE CLASSES AND DANCING
First, let me get a surprising and perhaps disappointing issue out of the way: The average level of dancing the first two weeks in Herräng seemed to be no higher than that of what we're spoiled by in San Francisco. When you think about it, though, this makes sense, since Lindy Hop (social dancing, at least) is not nearly as popular in the rest of the world as it is here, which means that most folks don't have the opportunity to dance regularly.

This resulted in some definite grumbling, particularly by folks at the Intermediate-Advanced and higher levels. Several guys complained to me that not enough of the women could really follow, and considerably more women complained that many men in their classes couldn't lead very well, either.

Interestingly, though, of the folks I heard complaining, all or most decided to stay at camp for 2, 3, or even 4 weeks, and from my understanding, all of them still felt that they got something out of the classes and camp as a whole.

As for my assessment (from taking Intermediate level classes)... I'd say that there were indeed quite a few women in there who did not have the level of connection of women here in SF I'm blessed dancing with, and also some guys (I heard) who lacked a fundamental grasp of basic Lindy concepts. However, there were considerably more folks in my classes who DID seem to have a decent grasp on connection and repetoire issues of Lindy, and overall, most of the follows were a pleasure to dance with.

What contributed more of a challenge for me (and, I'm assuming, other Americans) were the aspects of dancing and communicating that were decidedly International in flair. Many non-Americans (typically some of the Swiss and Germans I danced with) were sometimes disarmingly blunt, many of the (more than 45!) Russians could speak hardly a word of English, and quite a few Americans were caught off guard with the "2 dances in a row with each follow" rule that is firmly the norm outside the Americas.

And there were the intangibles, too, such as the somewhat indescribably different feel of non-American (or was it just non-SF) follows, both in terms of movement, personal space, and so on.

One of the most challenging and frustrating situation, though, was the combination of:
1) the huge number of people trying to dance in a medium-sized space each night (until things settled down around 2am or 3'ish)
2) the fact that for some ANNOYING reason, the Herräng staff still has not bought or installed fans in the ridiculously humid-and-hot dance spaces
3) non-SF people don't seem to have the ability or desire for dancing smaller, e.g., avoiding Bumper Lindy, and at least to my chagrin, apologizing post-collision is NOT the norm there.

It was not uncommon for guys to bring up LARGE towels and multiple t-shirts each night, though after a point, people just pretty much gave up, more or less accepted the crowded-sauna atmosphere, and figured that, well, the girls were just as sweaty as the guys, so who cared anymore? :D

Despite the issues raised above, however, dancing was still largely a joy, mostly because of those amazing moments of inspiration, joy, and discovery that occurred when dancing with someone you just clicked with. In my case, while I had quite a few amazing dances (including when the warm and beautiful Diane Van Haaren asked me to dance!), there was one particular French woman there with whom I connected just incredibly. I wouldn't have suspected such a connection just by watching her with other people... she wasn't flashy or stunningly gorgeous or technically brilliant or whatever... but dancing with her brought my Lindy and general happiness to new levels (at least while dancing with her :)). And to stave off the obvious followup question, no, I actually didn't really get to know her much OFF the dance floor, though of course, there were enough other soap opera'ish going-ons around the camp that I may describe in another post ;).


THE SOCIAL SCENE
And while I didn't really get to know that particular woman, one of the deepest joys of Herräng is always how warmly social the camp is. Everything is set up (intentionally or practically) to encourage and facilitate interaction off the dance floor. From the cafe to the bar to the foosball and pool tables, to the tons of places to sit, walk, lounge, row, swim, hike, eat, and just plain hang out, you are almost constantly surrounded by friendly and interesting people. Just by the nature of spending 4 hours in classes and, say, 2 hours eating a day with your fellow dancers is enough to spark quite a few bonds both platonic and, ahem, otherwise. The fact that many folks are living in the free accommodations in the local schoolhouse with as many as 40 people bunking together intensifies the closeness (for better or worse).

Aside from the welcoming facilities at camp, there are several regular Herräng events that contribute to the whole bonding / commune-atmosphere.

Every Wednesday is Blues Night, which includes basically a 1 hour lesson and 7-8 hours of men and women gyrating against each other.

Every Thursday is Cabaret Night, for which the facilities manager Gunnar begs every week, "It doesn't matter whether you're good or bad... please, just keep it short!" Surprisingly, at least week 2 this year, there was an amazing amount of both dance and non-dance true talent that blew folks away, including an amazing rhythmic juggler, some Central Coast contortionist/hip-hop guys, and more. For my part, I had a blast playing a rag-timey speedy version of Mack the Knife while a very talented and much-beloved Russian guy tapped his way 'cross stage.

Every Friday is Theme night, ranging from last year's "Olympics!" and "Health Resort" to this year's "Moulin Rouge," "Bad Taste Night" and others. And let me tell you, the Swedes -- and by extension, all the other campers -- take this evening SERIOUSLY. 99% of the folks dress up (with help from the overflowing take-what-you-want Prop Shop at camp), and most even try to dance with their costumes on... well, for a few minutes at least :). And the party helpers transform the Folkets Hus (the main building where dances are held) marvelously each week.

For this year's "Fairy Tale Evening," the Folkets Hus was made festive with lots of (real) greenery, a true Sleeping Beauty in a glass cage, a 29-mattresses-high-stack (from The Princess and the Pea, I think?), a marching band of singing dwarves, and much more. For the party the week before ("Academy Awards,") there was a literal red carpet, a plethora of paparazzi, and even singing-dancing (beautiful!) costumed chorus girls dancing on the roof of the Lindy Hop Shop. Oh, and a real blackjack table (with real wagers).

What did I wear, you ask? (Or maybe you didn't ask... too bad! ;))
For the "Fairy Tale Evening" I dressed up as the Milky White Cow with a Hump for a Rump (from Jack and the Beanstalk / Into the Woods), with white t-shirt, white mesh overlay thingy, white pants, white socks, and a black-and-white seat cushion with a tail tied around my waist. This cushion, of course, came in delightfully handy while dancing, transmogrifying the usual Bumper Lindy atmosphere into something decidedly to my advantage :D.

For the "Academy Awards" night, I wore a pinstriped suit (with the coat from the prop shop), a neato hat, and old sunglasses. I must have impressed at least a bit, since several of the ladies asked to take a photo with me when I was reclining on the couch :). And incidentally, several folks did not recognize me in the getup, suggesting that -- as one friend teased -- I "clean up nicely."

Another dimension to the socialization of camp is the fact that almost 100% of the 'employees' (bartenders, dishwashers, woodworkers, etc.) are fellow campers who are working to pay off their previous or upcoming non-working week of camp... and, not surprisingly, these same employees are typically dancing with everyone else at the evening dances, at least when they get off work at 1 or 2am. So, well, it's quite something when you're literally surrounded by music, dancers, and friends for one or more weeks, 24/7, no matter what you do or where you go.

As you can guess, I could likely go on for hours and hours more about the camp, but for tonight, I'll end here, and see if there are any things you're curious to know or learn more about. And perhaps even if y'all are silent, I'll drop some additional Herräng thoughts here or in my personal SmileZone journal from time to time.

Hope my writings here have given you an interesting and perhaps even useful glimpse into the camp! And maybe I'll even get around to writing about my travels before and after to NY, Boston, Rotterdam, Venray, London, Helsinki, Estonia, Stockholm, and Paris... the joys of meeting penpals after 15 years, the agony of losing $1,500 to an evil thief (is there any other kind?), having jackhammers outside your door at 5am, seeing the Full Monty and the Lion King back to back, attending an Estonian beer festival, flirting with Estonian and U.S. Embassy officials for a good cause, being practically alone in an entire section of a plane for 7 hours, getting more than 2 dozen mosquito bites in 1 week, spending only 15 hours in Paris, shaving with cold showers, stepping on Frankie's foot, figuring out Swedish cell phones, calling women "girls" at their request, showering with your friend's mom, enduring a late-night war of the nations, running from vicious senior citizen dancers, fleeing turkish toilets, teaching someone how to click a mouse, avoiding Americans, late-night searching for Finnish icecream, and much much more.

[baycanuck]

Just what I needed... Yet another reason to regret not going to Herrang :( Oh well, four days to camp Hollywood and one month to Indian Summer...

Great write-up Adam.

[ThatAdamGuy]

Glad you enjoyed the write-up! And hey, never regret... just plan for the future. Start investigating that airline-ticket-to-Sweden now; you can know for certain that Herräng takes place every year at the same time -- weeks 28-31.

Besides, I'm sure you'll have a blast at Camp Hollywood and the Indian Summer Camp. I'm actually planning on at least dropping by the latter for the evenings!

Oh, and another note about Herräng... regarding who else from the Bay Area showed up.

I apologize in advance for certainly forgetting at least a few people, but from the top of my head, I recall:
- Rebecca (from UC Davis)
- Charles d'Harcourt
- Dave Madison and his girlfriend Maureen
- Mark (ack, sorry no other descriptive info)
- Rob and Diane van Haaren
- Lori Ann Lepoff

plus lots of folks who FEEL like Bay Area people but currently live just North a bit in Seattle or Vancouver, etc.


GENERAL DEMOGRAPHICS

All in all, I think there were probably maybe ~30 Americans out of 200+ folks each of the first two weeks? And from what I understand, there's always a higher percentage of Americans the latter two weeks, as more high-level Lindy classes are offered (such as "Competition and Show").

Oh, and in terms of the nationality breakdown for the first two weeks, again, off the top of my head:
- Lots of Americans, Swedes, and Russians
- Most of the rest of the folks were from N. Europe.
- Just a tiny number from Italy, Latin America, Australia
- One each from Singapore and the Ukraine

Agewise... really all over the map. Probably a mean age in the lower 20's, but quite a lot of 17-19 year olds, and also a sizeable number of folks who were clearly over 35, even more than a handful over 50 I believe.

In my Intermediate classes, the lead/follow ratio was about 45/55%. At the evening dances, I didn't really notice any imbalance at all.

On an ironic / seemingly unfortunate note, I was able to count the number of blacks (other than staff) on one hand. Also, there were very, very few (visible) hispanics.

Do note that I'm sure the demographics changed significantly in the latter two weeks.

Okay, off to bed for me! Again, let me know if you have any questions... :)

[ThatAdamGuy]

Bump!

It's getting close to Herräng time again! Though I sadly won't be able to go this year, I strongly urge everyone else to consider attending. It's something that every Lindy Hopper, I honestly believe, should do at least once in his or her lifetime. And if you have any thoughts of going this year, you need to get your airline ticket soon (thankfully you don't actually have to pay for camp until the day you arrive).

As always, feel free to ask me any Herräng questions, and I'll do my best to answer (or, hopefully, other Herräng'ers can pipe in :D)

(and moderators... not sure why this thread is "Local Events"; feel free to move it to Beyond the Bay!)