About NORDLEK 2024

NORDLEK2024 in Arendal will offer a wide range of events during the festival week for both festival participants and the local population.

Around 170 different events are currently planned.

The festival opens with a spectacular opening show in Pollen on Tuesday, with performers from most of the Nordic region.

In the evenings, there are primarily dance parties in various venues. At Sam Eydes Plass, we invite you to the Nordic Championship in Dance Music with a final on Saturday.

On Friday, we invite the dancers to the Nordic Championship in folk dance performance and for those who want to try their hand, there will be a Go'kar competition with both hallingkast and slinkompass.

There will also be workshop in dance, music and crafts, concerts, exhibitions, excursions, Nordic ball, folklore performances, sing-along gatherings, folk music café, city walks, and music jams.

The festival ends with a big parade through the city where all participants dress up in national costumes and bunad. The procession ends with a large Nordic folk dance demonstration and a festive performance.

The goal is to fill the town of Arendal with music and dance throughout the week. We use Sam Eydes Plass, Kanalplassen, Pollen, Kulturhuset, Kulturkammeret and several local cafés and restaurants as venues for the events.

Prior to the festival, we invite you to a Nordic summer camp for young people at Hove. There will also be several events especially aimed at children and families.

NORDLEK will be a safe festival for everyone, and no alcohol will be served at the festival.

NORDIC COOPERATION

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NORDLEK 2024 in Arendal is a Nordic folk dance and folk music festival that is held every third year in rotation between the four largest countries in the Nordic region. The last time the festival was in Norway was in Steinkjer in 2012

Between 2000 and 2500 dancers and musicians from Greenland in the west to Finland in the east take part in the festival.

Occasionally there are also guests from Australia, the USA and Canada.

The first Nordic folk dance event, the precursor to today's NORDLEK, was held in Stockholm in 1920. Since Nordic co-operation was formalized through the Nordlek agreement in 1975, NORDLEK festivals have been held every third year.

The Nordlek association currently has 19 member organizations in the five Nordic countries and three self-governing territories (Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland). Together, these organizations have around 100,000 members.

In addition to the regular NORDLEK festivals, BARNLEK is also held every 3 years, a Nordic folk dance and folk music festival for children and young people, with between 1000 and 1500 participants aged 8-16 years.

Smaller events such as Grønlek, Havleikur (Faroe Islands), Isleik and Ålek are also hosted.

The purpose of Forbundet Nordlek is to ensure that traditional folk culture is given its rightful place in the growing Nordic cultural cooperation, and to ensure that cooperation within the folk dance and folk music community takes on a more permanent form.

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