Monday, May 14, 2007
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wooden shoe dancers


wooden shoe dancers
Tulip Time festival, Holland, Michigan

Thursday I went to Holland for the Dutch festival 'Tulip Time.'

The Michigan town of Holland was settled in 1847 by Dutch Calvinist separatists, and every year the town holds America's third largest town festival. Six million tulips are planted, and thousands dress in regional costumes from the Netherlands to perform the klompen - wooden shoe - dances.

There are very few boys who dance, so most pairs of 'boy and girl' dancers must be filled by girls in both roles, as you can see in this group of high school girls. They wear 4 or 5 pairs of socks to cushion their feet from the ungiving wood of the shoes. I didn't see it this time, but often shoes break with the 'klompen stompen', or sometimes they go flying in a high kick. Look out!






Posted by Flying | Comment (14)
Category: People, Places, Color




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