From collection Kosti Ruohomaa Collection
Square Dancing 5
This image shows square dancers, young and old, creating a pass-through with their arms raised and hands joined for other dancers to pass under. In this shot, the participants appear to be enjoying themselves.
The scene is probably a beginners' lesson in a local rural community. The photographer focusses not on the best dancers or the smoothest scenes; here we see the struggle and the process of learning, and the sometimes awkward and unfamiliar proximity of neighbors and strangers. In this improvised dance hall Kosti finds his preferred subject matter: the folkways of ordinary people at work and as here, at play.
