Migrating with Movement Expressions

Abstract

This article portrays how a selection of Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants to Norway deal with their movement practices in the new country, compared to what they did in their country of origin. Movement practices include dancing, ways of greeting people, and religious worship. The immigrants each give per-sonal accounts of their life experiences in such fields through open, informal interviews. Their stories illustrate in vernacular language how dance is situated in their home country in relation to religion and ethnicity. The author did not select particularly eager dancers for the interviews, seeking instead to work with non-experts. Commenting on the stories, the author proposes some factors influencing the position of dance in the immigrants’ new lives, such as the conditions offered by the authorities, the general climate of immigration among the general public, and the immigrants’ own expectations.