There were a couple of small groups dancing traditional square dance. One group was in the Stockholm area, led by Peter Myhr. This group is considered one of the pioneers in Swedish Square Dancing. They tried to dance Modern Western Square Dancing from a book. They had never seen or heard it so they did not know if they were doing it correctly.

One company played a major role in the starting of Square Dancing in Sweden. Ericsson Telecom received a large order for telecom equipment in 1978. Many Swedish Ericsson employees went to Saudi Arabia for several years. Anne-Catherine and Joergen Glimtoft, who learned Square Dancing in Brazil (on assignment for Ericsson) started a square dance club, The Dune Dancers. They also danced with U.S. dancers in Saudi and was visited by American callers Tony Oxendine, Jerry Story and Larry Letson. When the assignments were over, and they returned home, they started Ericsson Square Dancers in 1982. They met the Peter Myhr group and they now saw how square dance was actually danced.

Square Dancing caught on rapidly and now there are about 8,000 dancers in Sweden. Based on a per capita basis, this means Square Dancing is more than twice as popular as in the United States.

The average age of dancers in Sweden is much lower than the United States. In the beginning many teenagers started calling so now there are many talented callers in there twenties and early thirties.

Swedish Square Dancing started out for people in their thirties and forties and their kids. It is a fast energetic style of dancing not suitable for most older people. About three years ago this started to change. A club for older people was started called Seniorerna Club. Square Dancing caught on with the older people and now the club is one of the largest in the world with over 500 members. Dancing is going on in their hall several days a week with classes starting at 9 a.m..

Round Dancing is not part of Square Dancing. It is done at a different time as a separate activity. Line dancing is popular with the young dancers as a separate activity.

There are few breaks between Square Dancing tips. They usually are just long enough to square up again. When they do break they will have coffee and cakes. The dancers rarely bring food dishes.

A significant difference between dancing in Sweden and America is at what levels they dance. American clubs generally try to bring the students up to the level the club dances on their party nights. In Sweden they only have multi-level clubs. Most of the activities of the clubs are based on the classes. To give you an example,the Ericsson Square Dancers have six different classes on four different days of the week. There is a club dance once a month.

This way of holding classes requires a large commitment of callers and club members. But, it allows people to dance at the level they feel comfortable. It allows the clubs to have many members, which helps to keep the clubs "healthy". In America the clubs are specialized to usually one level of dance, so they become small in numbers and the chances of the club folding is higher.

In Sweden a little over 40% of the dancers dance below the Plus level. A little over 20% dance at the Plus level, and about 30% dance at the Advanced or Challenge level.

The dancing is not as couple oriented as in America. Dancers tend to dance with many different partners during the evening and there are many singles.

Square Dancing in Sweden is another example of how global the dance form is. With influences from people in other countries the dance is now flourishing in a country that only vaguely knew of it prior to the 1980's.

(Thanks go to Lars Erik Morell, of the Ericsson Square Dancers, for his help on this article)

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