Hambo
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The hambo is a traditional dance originally from Sweden. It is performed by couples to music in 3/4 time.
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[edit] Music
The Swedish dance hambo is a so-called gammaldans (old-time dance) even though it is fairly recent. The hambo is performed to music in 3/4 time with a strong accent on the first beat, and a quick but not too fast tempo (100-120 beats per minute). The music is played in multiples of 8 measures.
[edit] History
One of the potential origins of hambo is the polka-mazurka, a dance with many turns that was popular in Europe during the second half of the 19th century. The term polska-mazurka can also be found in notebooks from the beginning of the 20th century used by Swedish farmer folk-musicians. One of the turns in the dance was developed in about 1900 to a free-standing dance and was danced using older polska music, for example hambopolska, but with stronger emphasis on the first beat. In the early 20th century, an easier variant of hambo existed with a short forward step per beat for the first two measures before the turns began. The variants of hambo that are danced today, with so-called dalsteg (dal step) on the first two measures, began in the mid-1900s.
[edit] Hambo step, Lead
| Beat 1 | Set the right foot a short step forward and do a clockwise turn around the follow. |
| Beat 2 | Set down the left foot and continue to turn |
| Beat 3 | Mark with the right foot next to the heel of the left foot and continue to turn. |
One measure (3 beats) of hambo dance turning is a complete turning cycle of once around as a couple.
[edit] Hambo step, Follow
| Beat 1 | Mark with the right foot next to the heel of the left foot and do a small curtsying on the left foot. Turn around the lead. |
| Beat 2 | Set the right foot a short step forward and turn clockwise |
| Beat 3 | Set the left foot a short step forward and the right foot a step backward. Continue to turn. |
[edit] Variations
The common modern variant of Hambo begins with the gentleman holding the lady's left hand with his right. He takes a step forward with left foot and swings his right foot diagonally in front of the left foot (this is called a dalsteg). He does the same on the following three beats with the right foot. The lady does the same but mirrored.
After two dalsteg the couple takes three steps forward, followed by four hambo steps around and three more small steps forward. Then the dance repeats from the beginning.
[edit] Competition
Sweden hosts an annual hambo world championship, called Hälsingehambon.
