12. The Ban on Round Dances 1917–1957

This chapter explores the context and reasoning behind the banning of round dances by one of Norway’s largest youth movements for about forty years from 1917. It provides portraits of the three largest popular movements in Norway, which were the main agents in relation to popular dance because they controlled most of the community houses in the country, and which all had conflicting attitudes towards social dancing and dealt with it in different ways. From the Liberal Youth Movement, which imposed the ban, to the Labour Movement, which paid little attention to the dances, this chapter examines the social, political, and religious factors that influenced these movements’ relationships to round dances.