Kivajat Dreaming of Finland

Kivajat Dreaming of Finland is a youth Finnish folk dance group from Houghton, MI led by director Kay Seppala and sponsored by the Finnish American Heritage Center in Hancock, MI. Kay danced with the Kisarit Finnish American Folk Dance group from 1976-1996 under the instruction of a trained folk dancer from Finland. She attended many workshops during this time, and led a children’s group under the Kisarit leadership.

Since moving to Upper Michigan, she started a children’s group – the Kivajat – made up of youth ages 4-17, whom she’s taken to the Tanssiva Turku festival three times and a children’s international dance festival in Turku, Finland where they also enjoyed workshops. As recently as last fall, Kay spent two weeks in Turku under an American Scandinavian Foundation grant, studying and learning new dances and techniques from TKY, their large, active Finnish folk dance organization.

The Kivajat Finnish Dancers have performed 12-20 times each year since 2005. They’ve danced at nursing homes, local and regional festivals, and other special events throughout the year. Many are Finnish events, but not all, including the Portage County Cultural Festival in Stevens Point, WI, Festival of Nations in St Paul, MN, Parade of Nations sponsored by Michigan Tech University each fall, and multiple others.