The day before Folkets Festival 2026 kicks off, the festival is now expanding its program to Friday with a very special "warm-up day". The program for Friday is as follows:

18:00:
Doors open

18:30-19:00:
Fod på gulv: Is folk dance a super tool against poor well-being? - 30 minutes about movement, community and courage. Come and hear how musicians and dance instructors in Foot on the Floor work to increase mental and physical well-being for vulnerable young people and adults with mental illness. Meet our mindset, dreams and concrete plans. Hear what researchers have already discovered and what we are throwing ourselves into together from 2026-2028. (Maybe you know someone who wants to join?) - Everyone is welcome to stop by.

19:00-20:30:
Panel debate: "When Music Moves Us" moderated by Benedikte Granvig - A 90-minute dialogue in danish about the magical point where music and dance merge. When a Nordic folk dance really takes off from the floor, and the music lifts everyone in the room - what is really happening?

In this conversation, folk musicians, dancers and teachers come together to explore the moment when everything falls into place: where rhythm and movement flow freely, and where both performer and spectator feel a common flow. Together we explore what we strive for when we play and dance. How does the presence and cohesion that make the Nordic tradition so alive – and so special in our time – arise?

Through conversations, perspectives and musical performances, we explore the relationship between body and sound, between tradition and the present, and between the individual and the community. - A meeting for everyone who is curious about what binds us together when Nordic folk music moves us.

21:00-22:00:
Concert: Purppuri (DK/SE/NO/FI)
Behind Purppuri are four Nordic folk musicians who invite the audience into the music through dance. Johan Hedin, Esko Järvelä, Mads Kjøller Henningsen and Jorun Marie Kvernberg are highly respected names on the Nordic folk music scene. Together they represent both living traditions and groundbreaking, modern folk music. With inspiration from manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries, they let the music take root in our own time and create social spaces where folk dance and folk music bring people together.

22:15-23:15:
Release concert: Trio Mio (DK/SE)
Trio Mio brings new life to the Danish and Swedish folk music traditions with a sound that is both rooted and refreshingly modern. Their music moves with an effortless, creative freedom, never predictable and always alive. Fine, airy melodies can suddenly give way to fast, playful and even a little crazy improvisations, where unexpected harmonies and bold dissonances break through. It is music full of surprises, delivered with intensity, finesse and pure joy of playing. Trio Mio shows that folk music still contains a strong, life-affirming energy, especially when it is treated with curiosity, respect and a fearless desire to let it develop.

23:15-00:30
Nordisk Dansk
Nordisk Dansk is a dynamic grassroots initiative from Copenhagen, founded by young enthusiasts of traditional Nordic music and dance. Their goal is to bring the Nordic dance tradition to life in a warm, social and contemporary setting. A group from Nordic Dance will play for dancing and invites everyone, from beginners to seasoned dancers, to step in, move to the music and experience folk dance as alive, inclusive and wonderfully present.

01:00:
The program is over. Thank you for tonight!