Season 13 - Oslo Viikingid Take The Spotlight at “Iseoma” Dance Celebration
Oslo Viikingid (Oslo Vikings) just wrapped up their 13th season in Norway’s capital and took part in the XXI Dance Celebration “Iseoma” in Tallinn with two groups - a women’s group and a mixed group. In this article, the longtime Oslo Viikingid dancers, Maria Djomina and Helen Suurna-Garcia, share their impressions from the celebration and the group’s long activity history.
Like many other Estonian folk dance groups abroad, what drives us is the desire to speak Estonian and dance together. At the same time, we’re proud to help keep Estonian culture and folk dance traditions alive while living far from home.
Our preparations for the XXI Dance Celebration “Iseoma” began a year and a half before the big rehearsal and performance week in July in Tallinn. That time was filled with countless practices, training camps, logistical planning, and all the day-to-day organising that comes with managing two dance groups.
But when our dance shoes finally touched the grass of the Kalev stadium and the audience filled the seats, none of us were thinking about the challenges we’d overcome to get there. In that moment, we were one - the dancers from Estonia and abroad, united as a single community with our own rhythm and identity. Each of us is unique, yet all working together for the same goal: to make the dance celebration a success. Just like the Celebration’s motto said.
Can We Really Pull Together Two Groups for the “Iseoma” Dance Celebration?
On our journey to “Iseoma,” we didn’t just learn dance steps - we got to know each other, ourselves, and the deeper roots of Estonian folk dance. The excitement of the upcoming celebration inspired more than ten new dancers from around Oslo region to join us. For the first time, we weren’t just a mixed group of dancers, we had two full dance groups: a mixed group and a newly formed women’s group.
Some of our new dancers had never tried folk dance before, while others had been dancing since childhood. We practiced, laughed, and learned together until the dances became second nature. In the winter, we recorded all our dances on video and sent them to the foreign groups’ leader, Agne Kurrikoff-Hermann, for review and feedback. When both groups were officially invited in March to perform in Tallinn, we kicked things into high gear - making sure the dances truly came to life and that we arrived at Kalev Stadium with some of the festival patterns already under our belts.
As with all great things, the simpler it looks in the end, the more work went into it. And of course - so much joy, too.
Our Instructor Raido Bergstein: The Heart Behind the Steps
From the very beginning, our instructor has been Raido Bergstein. He’s actually the only one of us who doesn’t live in Norway. Since 2013, Raido has flown in at least once a month for long weekends to teach Estonian folk dance. The rest of the time, he lives in Estonia and works as the director of the Estonian Dance Agency.
In February 2025, Raido received the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s (Eesti Kultuurkapital) annual awad recognising his years of work creating opportunities for young dancers and growing dance audiences as the lead organiser of School Dance Festival (Koolitants).
His experience, dedication, and genuine love for folk dance have been invaluable to us. Even when distance, language, and schedules made things difficult, Raido kept the spirit of our dances alive.
A Whole New Group and Our First Norwegian Dancer, Anders
As we geared up for the festival, we welcomed over ten new members - including Laura, born and raised in Estonia, and her Norwegian partner Anders, who quickly became affectionately known as “Estonian Andres” among our dancers.
Laura brought a rich background in figure skating and oriental dance, but folk dance was something new and exciting for her - a challenge she embraced with joy.
Anders had no prior dance experience and doesn’t speak Estonian. Until then, we’d always held our classes in Estonian. While we needed to add the occasional English phrases now to our Estonian classes, Anders showed true Estonian folk dancer grit - and quickly picked up the right moves by watching others. Though he still needs help with more complex instructions in Estonian, he’s mastered “Tuljak”, knows what “käed puusa” (English hands in fists on hips) means, and understands “esimene takt ja teine takt” (In English “first beat, second beat”) in Estonian. And now, he’s danced in his very first Estonian Dance Celebration.
Estonian and Foreign Dance Groups Dancing Together as One
Our participation in the XXI Dance Celebration “Iseoma” proved once again that folk dance brings people together - regardless of age, nationality, language, or background. Dance is a universal language that speaks straight to the heart. The festival brought together Estonians and friends of Estonia from around the world, uniting us into one big dance family moving in the same rhythm.
We’re deeply grateful to everyone who made this journey possible - our instructor, supporters, families, friends, the festival organisers, and our foreign group leader, Agne Kurnikoff-Herman. We may have returned from Estonia a little tired, but our hearts are full of gratitude - and new dance adventures are already in the works.
Now it’s summer, and Oslo Viikingid have scattered across the globe. But as the name “Iseoma” reminds us - each of us is unique, and yet in dance, we come together as one heart beating in the same rhythm.
See you in the rehearsal hall this autumn!
