Learn Authentic Bondpolska Styling from Riksspelman Cajsa Ekstav!

Two-Workshop Package

Dates: February 2nd & 16th, 2025
Time: 10-11:30 AM Pacific / 1-2:30 PM Eastern
Location: Zoom
Cost: $20 for members / $40 for non-members
All instruments welcome!

Registration is now closed and the Zoom link has been sent by email!

If you registered, but don’t see that email, please contact us here.

About the Workshop

We are excited to announce that Riksspelman Cajsa Ekstav will be teaching our very first ANA Zoom Workshop. Two Sundays, Feb. 2 and 16, from 10-11:30 AM Pacific / 1-2:30 PM Eastern. Focus will be on the rhythm and styling of the bondpolska, using traditional bondpolska repertoire from Uppland. The first session will cover how to play some common tunes in such a way as to lift the dancers off the floor, and the second session will introduce some less-common tunes, keeping these principles in mind. The sessions are spaced out so as to allow plenty of time to practice between sessions. Cajsa has generously offered to make recordings available to workshop participants for later study. These will be for private use only, and absolutely not to be shared on any form of public media.

About Cajsa

Cajsa Ekstav was born and grew up in Vendel, in northern Uppland, and has a rich tradition of tunes from the Sahlström family, Viksta-Lasse, Bosse Larsson, and Curt Tallroth. She has been playing both fiddle and nyckelharpa since the age of 8 and is also an accomplished singer of folk-songs. Besides performing both solo and in groups such as Trollrike Spelmän and Systerpolskan, she often teaches courses, not only in Sweden but also abroad. She has performed and taught in the US several times over the years and is a very popular and skillful instructor. She even travelled to Los Angeles to record the soundtracks for the hit video game “World of Warcraft”! She became a Riksspelman in 1990 and was further honored in 2008 with Uplands [sic] Spelmansförbunds gold medal for her tireless work bringing Uppland’s folk music to a wider audience and for encouraging more people to take up this tradition.