By Hannah McLeod • Guest Columnist

We all have those memories that lurk in the back of our brain, the hazy, maybe-real-maybe-not memories from the time before we gained a sense of self. For me, those memories include being twirled around by, hugged and kissed by, or photographed with, people from all over the globe. While at two-and-a-half I had little idea of what was going on, the sights, smells, and energies of Folkmoot USA were enthralling. 

Before I was born — while she was still pregnant with me and then with my brother — my mother has been taking us to Folkmoot performances. An avid traveler herself, she understood that Folkmoot was the perfect way to journey around the world with three toddlers in tow. As I grew and became aware of what the festival was, who these people were that looked so ravishing in foreign garb, and what it meant to have them here, Folkmoot turned into a spectacle that I couldn’t wait to be a part of. It was incredible to sit in the audience and watch, but I thirsted for more.

• Meet the performers
• The 'glorious chaos' that is Folkmoot
• Folkmoot redefines mission as 2015 festival gets underway
• 2015 festival highlights
• Schedule of events

With just days until the 32nd annual Folkmoot USA international dance and music festival is set to kick off, the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Hazelwood is a frenzy of activity. Construction projects are finishing up, fresh paint is drying on the walls, beds are being prepared for the performers and new Executive Director Angie Schwab is squelching fires left and right.

Q&A with new Folkmoot Executive Director Angie Schwab, who took the reins in March from former director Karen Babcock.

Folkmoot USA has finalized its capital improvements and business plan for the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Hazelwood. 

Since taking over ownership of the building from the county last year, Folkmoot has been working on plans to renovate the building to accommodate year-round programming for the organization.

When Shirley Finger was younger, she never did too much clogging. Or dancing of any kind, really.

“Back when I was growing up you didn’t go to a dance, that was the Devil’s place,” recalled Finger. “But when I got married my husband was on a dance team and I just fell in love with it.”

Finger fell in love with clogging. She has since enjoyed spreading the gospel of clogging with the Waynesville-based Dixie Darlin’s.

For two weeks every July, the old Hazelwood School in Waynesville becomes a mini United Nations. 

Performance groups from around the globe descend on Haywood County and Western North Carolina. They’re dancers, singers and musicians, each proudly representing their faraway native land and culture. And with every group comes a language barrier. Though there are obviously difficulties in not being able to understand someone else, the beauty of sharing cultures comes in finding common ground with that person. 

The whirling skirts and clacking heels of Folkmoot USA represent eight different nations spanning the globe, but while the diversity makes for a beautiful spectacle, having all those languages in one place can make verbal communication a little difficult. There’s not much similarity between English, Russian and Chinese, but dance is universal. 

“Music is an international language,” said Concord resident Mary Talbert, who traveled to see the Folkmoot dancers with her daughter Misty Mowrey.