Abit ja Wanhojen Tanssit

This Valentines Day (February 14th, 2013) was a little different for me. In Finland it's not so much about the whole 'love is in the air' theme, as it is about the seniors of the school being done, and a celebration for those who are now the oldest in the school.

In the Finnish lukio (high school), there are three grade levels. First years, second years, and third years. The third years are in their final year of lukio and next they will go on the university afterwards. Later on in the year, they have huge matriculation exams, so they finish school on the February 14th after all of their class exams are done.
Each school has their own theme, this year the abit (seniors), chose a barn/farm theme, so there were lots of different animal costumes, etc. On the last day, they all dress up, and then there is the abitgala (which is the senior asembally), there all of the students in lukio sat and watched. Being a second year, I had to sit in a giant chicken coup with my friends. The show was amazing! There were funny videos the students had made, and different songs, and challenges for the teachers.

After the abitgala, all of the abit students got on stage briefly and then went out to the large trucks. They had made different posters to decorate the trucks, having to do with their farm theme. Our school had three different trucks, and all of the abit got onto the trucks and thats how they left the school. They throw candy and drive down to the center.
In the center, trucks from all the different schools drive around and people throw candy. It looks like so much fun! They parade several times up and down the streets. This year some of the different themes were pirates, horror movie characters, Disney-themed, and construction workers among others.

Once the third years had left, I went over to my host sister's friend's house, and they did my hair and makeup for me. Then I went home and got dressed and ready to go for the Wanhojen Tanssit (called the Old Dance, because it is for the oldest students in the school). All of the second years are able to do the wanhojen tanssit if they decide too, and every year it takes place in the evening on the 14th.

All of us had been practicing since October, so it was very exciting that at last the time for the dance had actually come. We had learned nine different ballroom dances; Das liegt bei uns im blut, teinipoloneesi, cicapo, pas d' Éspagne, valeta-valssi, salty dog rag, the lambeth walk, tango jalousie, and the wieninvalssi.

On the evening of the 14th, the dance is for friends and family to view. There is a live orchestra thanks to some of the middle school aged children in the peruskoulu which is also part of the school. There were two different groups with about fifty dancers, and I was in the first group.

It was so much fun dancing among my classmates, especially since we had all worked so hard in preparation for it all. It was nice, but also a bit of a challenge. My dress ended up being a bit too long, so I kept stepping on it and tripping myself and my partner.

Here are some of my friends dancing in the second group. Each group did the same dances, just at a different time because there wasn't enough room for everyone to go all at once.
This picture is actually from February 16th. That morning we danced once more at school, for all of peruskoulu to watch.

Here is all of the dancers after our in school performance on the 16th. Afterwards, we went around to the different classes of the first years and peruskoulu and gave them the 'youngster treatment' by making them sing songs, dance, or solve math problems, etc. We were then served a special lunch in the cafeteria, with some of the first years acting as our waiters. It was so nice.   

We had one final dance a the sports hall, in a different part of the city. In the sports hall, the first year students and the general public came to watch. It was really busy there, because all of the schools were dancing at different times in some of the different gyms.

It was really great, because both groups got to dance at once. Everyone was together for the final time. This picture is from the teinipoloneesi. That was my favorite dance, because I really liked getting to dance and interact with so many different people.

 Here is another picture from the same dance, where we got to shake hands and move around in a circle. There were many different steps and things we did.

After our final performance in the sports hall. I think that all second year girls doing the dance would agree, that it is the one (or two) days, that you get to dress and feel like a princess. It was magical.

Ailey happened to be dancing after me, so I watched her school too. All of the different dresses and dances were wonderful. It really was a great day!