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Ed and Carol Goller
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Edward "Ed" and Carol Goller taught weekly Scandinavian dance classes in Santa Monica, California, and taught at several venues around California.
Ed and Carol, along with Dan Matrisciano, were the "founding fathers" of Skandia South. They wanted to call the group "Skandia," But Gordon Tracy already had "proprietary rights" on the name in Seattle, Washington so Skandia South it was. The trio organized and arranged all activities of the group which began at the Miles Playhouse in Santa Monica, California.
They learned many Scandinavian dances from Gordon Tracie and Ingvar Sodal at the Stockton Folk Dance Camp. They then traveled through four Scandinavian countries with Gordon's tour group. They went again to Sweden and participated in the annual Hälsinge Hambo Contest and came in 450th place out of 1200 couples! Ed helped teach the physical education (folk dance) class at Long Beach State College.
At Uddevalla, Sweden Ed learned a dance which he called the "Swedish Finn Mixer" and says, "By the way, it is not 'Swede Finn Mixer' [as] Swedish Finns and Finnish Swedes are people who live in the opposite country of their language."
Carol is quite accomplished on violin on Swedish Polskor and has instructed others to become more proficient. The couple taught Scandinavian dance at the 1979 Idyllwild Folk DanceCamp in the San Jacinto mountains.
Ed and Carol joined the Swedish Folk Dance Club, led by Niles and Kerstin Johanssen, and performed set dances with them for forty-four years. They competed in the Hambo on the campus at Cal Lutheran College for twelve years and came in first place various times, and were jusges at other times.
On their first trip to Europe, they spent two weeks at St. Andrews in Scotland and trained and passed the first examination in Scottish Country Dancing. When they returned, they started a group of mostly Scottish people in Westminster, California and often had three or four sets of eight people. Ed and Carol got their full certificates on a visit by Miss Milligan, the founder of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, and her assistant.
The couple were performers with the Gandy Dancers for untold years, making their own costumes and Ed designed and embroidered his own Ukrainian/Moldavian shirt.
Carol passed away on May 19, 2019.
Dances Ed and Carol have taught include, among dozens and dozens of Scottish Country Dances and more Scandinavian dances, Arnautsko, Åtta man Engel, Åttetur med Mylne, Bitte Mand i Knibe, Drmeš iz Marinaraca, Dobro Ljo, Familjevalsen, Fingerpolkett, Fjäskern, Flor Amarosa, Galopp, Gustaf's Skål, Hambo, Hashual, Hora Veche, Hora pe Şase, Hornfiffen, Kostursko oro, Ličko kolo, Maskerad, Mayim, Oj Dimitro Le, Pariserpolka, Polka och Bakmes från Kall, Polska från Järvsö, Rørospols, Seksmannsril, Sick-Sack Shottis från Hede, Små Faglarna i Skogen, Snoa, Snurrbocken, Snurrvals från Hede, Sønderhoning, Stegaren, Stigvals och Bakmes från Kall, Swedish Finn Mixer, Te Aven Baxtale, Tyska Polska, Varsouvienne, Vossarull and Žensko kapansko oro.