We Sat Together Beside the Dancefloor

Summer 2015-2018
Finland

Finland is a culture somewhat known for isolation, couple dancing might not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of this Nordic nation known for saunas, lakes, and the happiest people on Earth (Sprinkel, 2026); these are the somewhat outdated promoted images of Finns, not to forget Tove Jansson’s surreal world of forest creatures; The Moomins’ with their existential melancholia, inner dreams and a deep love and care for all sentient beings; though if one spent as much time in the forest as these friendly creatures I think we’d be on their wavelength.

I grew up with the films of Aki Kaurismaki where, similarly to The Moomins, a melancholic mood merged with silent companionship, but to a soundtrack of rock n’ roll and the legendary Leningrad Cowboys & Topi Sorsakoski & the Agents, binding the slow-paced stories of humanities simple yet heroic dreams. The same soundtrack I heard on my grandparents’ radio growing up in the 1980s while visiting their summer cabin in the east of Finland; Finnish-language covers of jazz standards, country and rock n roll were common, and still are. In his 1990 movie The Match Factory Girl we are introduced to the normality of solitude in the Finnish dance pavilion, which Kaurismaki attributes to his own experience:

“For me, music serves somewhat the same purpose as at public dances, where people are too shy to utter a word but the music makes up for the conversation. The muteness of my characters may seem exotic to people abroad…But there is also a personal reason behind it: when, as a young man, I tried to approach someone at a public dance, the reply was curt and I was left alone with the music.” (Barry, 2024).

In 2015 I rented a small red van with enough room to camp in and travelled around Finland with a camera visiting a number of dance pavilions. At first I was attracted to the architecture of the buildings themselves; the practicality of the circular dancefloor, the locations mostly on the outskirts of towns and cities close to forests, farms and lakes, meant that in some places camping was the only sleeping option, especially if you were in one of the venues with a bar, some such as Krouvin Lava who even brew their own Sahti – a high percent fermented brew made from barley, rye and baking yeast. The tradition of men asking women to dance made it clear that having a bar made all the difference as to how busy the dancefloor was, but for me, I was uncomfortable with the tradition, I’m not a dancer, in fact I found the whole act of couple dancing; the physical contact with a stranger, the intimate gaze into each other’s eyes, mildly torturous. Traditionally these were places where couples met for the first time, marriages formed here, families grew out of dancing. In the early days when dancing was still somewhat frowned upon by the older generation of Lutherans, the structures themselves were temporary, constructed for the purpose and use of one summer only. In part my reason for visiting these dances was because of their location, I have always been drawn to in-between places, wastelands and industrial estates on the edge of town, I like the energy; in stasis, of something waiting to happen. Because I would spend a little time exploring the area in the day, my visits to dances often fell in the earlier part of the evening before most people had arrived, I enjoyed the silent awkwardness of those moments waiting for others, having a coffee, talking to the few individuals who occupied seats close to the dancefloor, or in the extreme periphery close to the exits. Some were like me, there to watch and take in the atmosphere, but most were there to dance.

Dance pavilions open their doors to the local community coming out of hibernation from the long Nordic winter at the end of May, and dances are held weekly into the beginning of August. Musicians travel the length of the country touring venues and performing for dancers whose moves range from Humppa (two-step) to Polka, Waltz to Foxtrot, to the famous Finnish Tango. For me, it was the solitude of the dance that I was drawn to, as Kaurismaki describes in his experience, being left alone in the busy room with only the music for company, this was enough for many of the people I met.

Funded by Arts Council England


Barry, R. (2024, feb 05). Alone (Together) with the Music: Songs in the Films of Aki Kaurismäki. Retrieved from Mubi: https://mubi.com/en/notebook/posts/alone-together-with-the-music-songs-in-the-films-of-aki-kaurismaki

Sprinkel, O. (2026, jan 31). What makes Finland the happiest place on Earth? Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/jan/31/what-makes-finland-the-happiest-country-in-the-world