Midsummer Dancing.

Vehkakoski dancing stage.

Juhannustanssit, Midsummer Dance, is one of the many traditions of Midsummer Party in Finland. Actually I have never been in juhannustanssit before but last weekend I finally had the opportunity to have that experience. I went to Vehkakosken tanssilava, a beautiful old dancing stage build in 1957, situated next to Lake Vehkajärvi. Its round new dance floor was made of birch and it was perfect for dancing. Even though the area has only few inhabitants the place was super full which means that many people come even far away to dance there during Midsummer. Our cottage just happened to be in a walking distance of it! What I was surprised was that there were many young people dancing there; I always thought that dance events like these were only for middle-aged or older.

In the Midsummer dance evening there was Kaija Pohjola and Jaska Mäkynen playing quite traditional Finnish dancing music, mostly Foxtrot, Tango and Waltz, and the dance floor was so crowded you couldn't help bumping into other couples. The good thing about a round dance floor was that everybody could go around into one direction. Bad thing was if you couldn't follow the crowd. Since I didn't have Nic with me, I was the one who was teaching. My pair did learn fast though and he was especially good with bendings! What a nice night that was.

Before I left to the cottage for Midsummer Nic cooked me birthday dinner (Nic is an exellent cook I must say!) and we also watched the movie  Dirty Dancing. Yes, it is quite embarrassing to admit that I haven't seen that movie before, but anyway, I loved it. And since I had a strong guy and a lake in the cottage I wanted to try the Dirty Dancing lift. Wow, it is so hard! I recommend wearing a T-shirt or things might get quite slippery! Yeah, it was fun but I wouldn't try it on dry land. If someone knows good tips for doing the lift, let me know!

Midsummer fire and Finnish nature, ah!