mershaimb[10] says that he took down the greater number of his
ballads at Sumbo on Sudero, the most southerly village in the Islands.
He describes the ballad dance as follows:

It is the custom here that the same ballad should not be sung
more than once a year[11] in the 'dancing-chamber,' so that
the repertoire is obviously extensive, seeing that they dance
at wedding feasts, generally for three days and nights without
cessation. In the special dancing season from Yule till Lent,
the ballads are danced not only on Sundays but also on the
so-called 'Feast Days.' (They do not dance again from the
beginning of Lent till the day after Christmas.) The dance at
Sumbo has characteristics of its own which differ from those
of the rest of the Faroes. The people here generally sing
well and know how to put expression into the actual dance.
Elsewhere on the Islands this is now for the most part reduced
to a uniform stamp with the feet, marking the melody of the
ballad. Moreover they still continue here in common use both
the 'Walking Verse' (_stigingar stev_) and the more rapid
measure 'Tripping Verse' (_trokingar stev_) of the Round
Dance, in which, as a rule, the dancers hold one another by
the hand, forming a circle, dancing backwards while the
verse (_oerindi_) is sung, and reversing the movement with
considerable energy during the singing of the refrain
(_viethgangur, niethurlag, stev_). This round dance is
characteristic of Sumbo[12].

For the most part the dance is now performed with the same speed
in both verse and refrain[13], and though little changed since
Hammershaimb wrote, it tends more and more to become a solemn and
joyless function; and there is a curious unanimity today among
eyewitnesses as to the depressing effect it has on them. Hjalmar
Thuren, writing in later times (1908), furnishes some additional
information as to the manner of the ballad dance[14]. The ballads
are danced with special zest on the 29th of July, the day of the
anniversary of the death of Saint Olaf, when all the islanders who
can leave their homes flock to Thorshaven and dance from sunset till
sunrise. Sometimes the ballads are danced in the open air, and it
has been the custom in certain districts from ancient times to hold
assemblies for dancing out in the fields on certain fixed days. On
the 12th Sunday after Trinity people meet in definite places