OK, y'all. Who's done contra dancing before? How long have you done it?

I've been to four monthly dances so far, so about 12 hours of dancing all told. So I'm not a pro, but I know what I'm doing, at least Hilly and Sui have been as well.

Anyone else?

eru

I've never ever heard of that type of dance before. Just be lucky you can dance. When I went to prom last week they gave us a Fox Trot lesson for half an hour and I only got the first part down. *wishes she could dance* I'm better at free style/dorky dancing. XD

Wow Contra/folk dancing is where I got my start in the dance world!
I did one year of contra 1 lesson a week give or take a few holidays. Then I moved onto Hula then to some Hip/Hop then Ballywood, and finally Belly dancing before I got convicted and dropped out, I now just dance for exercise, but I have not done Contra for awhile! When I did I really liked it, but now it isn't as challenging as some of my other dances so I prefer to do the others.
Ana

Me! *raises hand*
It's great fun. We go every other week in Nashville. We found out about two years ago, I think. Maybe three. I've lost count of how many times I've been... not enough though! And they have a live band, which is really cool. And I have made a couple of good friends down there too.

I'm going to like this thread.

I don't know what it is, but I do know that I don't do it.

The last time I danced was at a fundraiser, and I'm still suffering from the blisters.

Is it like square dancing?

Hmmm...*tries to explain* The best I've heard it explained is a cross between line dancing and square dancing. We do square dances at our contra as well, in addition to contra dancing. Actually, it's more like line dancing. But in the same vein as square dancing. *is making a mess of things*

It's really fun, at least if you're in the right group. There's a live band and our group is really helpful to newbies, which is good They run through every dance beforehand without the music, and slower, just so you can get the hang of it. Of course, there's people there like Katie that you dance with who have done it for years, and they help you out too.

Everything's pretty repetitive; you do the same moves a lot, so you get the hang of it quickly

eru

Ok, thanks.

I have done much Contra dancing before though nowadays I do civil war and (my personal favorite) folk dancing.

I used to do civil war dancing but now (as Eru mentioned) I do Contra. It's a great exercise and I have a blast doing it with my friends.

Wow, seems like we have a disproportionate number of guys dancing around here? Congrats!

I used to do quite a bit of dancing, though never Contra - I was on the "worship dance" team at my church in Japan, where we'd dance to a worship song every Sunday. And there were special performances as well. I especially liked the ballet-style dances, although the hip-hops were quirky and rather fun. Now, however, I don't do much (or any) dancing. Perhaps some day ...

That sounds fun! We did some square dancing at a church thing once, but I've never tried contra dancing. (Hehe... I'd never even heard of it until now...)

Anyway, my dancing skills are non-existant, so the fact that I managed to do a square dance is a miracle in itself!

'Tis a miracle I have contra danced and still can't square dance!

eru

I am used to square dancing because we did some of it back when the family did Civil War reenactment.

Square dancing is one of the few dance types I can't stand. I don't know why.

It was fun. I don't think I could do it all the time... but every once and a while would be great.

@The Bard: I've finished 'one' square dance without messing up. Other than that, every time I've danced it I've felt the same way

eru

I have a theory.

I believe that square dancing, contra dancing, English country dancing, civil war ballroom dancing and probably even court dancing, are really all variations on the same dance.

All the moves are the same.

When we went to a Civil War Dance hosted by the Clemens we picked up on it really fast, because we'd all done contra dancing. The main differences were that Civil War Dances are not called; at least, I don't think they're supposed to be called. The dancers were expected to memorize them. The position for a swing is different, and the pace is much, much slower.

Square dancing has all the same moves as contra dancing. But out west they didn't have a dance floor big enough for the long lines that contra dancing requires, so they did it in small squares. Also, it's much more partner oriented. I think this is also part of the Western culture; there weren't a lot of girls or boys to choose from. You were likely dancing with the person you would marry, because you couldn't be picky. I'm guessing practically every relationship led to marriage, simply because of the lack of people.

Etiquette changes, and the dance changes to match it, but I think that at the bottom of it all it's the same. Contra dancing is fast, incredibly fast. Some of the dances are like being on a roller coaster. It's awesome. (Joe, you guys have got to come sometime!) English Country Dancing and Civil War dancing are much more sedate. Why? Because of the etiquette. You couldn't have all those proper prim ladies and gentlemen getting breathless and worn out, especially not with the fashions!

English country and civil war dances are more fast paced sometimes. We hardly do any of those at our balls because the crowd that we have dancing are mostly noobs.
You're right about all these dances being variations of one another.
I'm not sure (my sisters are the experts) but I think that no dances were called up till the square dance was invented. People nowadays usually call all the dances because us modern people are really bad.

Oh, that's nice, Joe.

It's actually just because modern people don't dance. Everyone has a different reason for this... my dad said he grew up to see dancing disappear. His theory is that as modern music got worse, so did the dancing. He described dancing as deteriorating to the point where all anyone did was "stand in the middle of the floor and jiggle" at which point no one would do it anymore because it was too embarrassing.

But whatever your theory, dancing isn't done as much anymore as it was a couple hundred years ago. Therefore almost everyone is a noob. (I can't believe I just used that word.)

Civil War dances are all pretty set though, whereas there are hundreds of contra dances. Maybe they weren't always called, but what they've evolved to is definitely a called dance. Anyone can sit down and write a contra dance and they often times do. (Ya'll should come some time...)

I think you might be right, Jaynin Personally I just love the contra because it is called That's why I've never tried like line dancing or civil war dancing...too dependent on those calls. I don't know why I have such a hard time with square dancing...

eru

Do you still do this kind of dancing, Andrew? If so, how's it going?

I really can't dance at all! I have like two left feet.

*raises hand* I have kindof been contra dancing!

Mark took me once when we were chatting. 'Twas fun.

Well... I'm glad you had fun.

Ooh fun! Were you good at it, Grace? Is it easy to learn, do you think?

Andrew said I was good at it. And Mark was a good teacher. I don't know how I'd be at non-virtual dancing though.

For those interested in dancing from the 1860's you should check out this instructional video made my my sister. (I'm the guy dancing with the lady in pink.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twYaGFj3EtY


(Katie was our Assistant director also.)

That looks like fun, Joe. Though I doubt I could do much with a dress like that.

*Laughs* I bet it was fun.



That does look like lots of fun, and I love how you're all dressed!

Its not as hard to do things as it looks.
(according to the people who actually wore them. Not me )

Square and contra dancing are some of my favorite social activities (going back to the "Virginia reel" unit in elementary school ...), and are real treats for me, since I don't get to go dancing all that often. (Though I could, if I could afford it, as there's an active dance community in Ann Arbor, just ten miles or so from here.) The highlight of my summer (when we get to go) is the Friday night dance at the Non-Electrical Musical Funfest (or "dulcimer funfest", as it's put on by the Original Dulcimer Players Club and predominantly attended by hammered dulcimer players) in Evart, MI, the third weekend in July, with music provided by the Ruffwater String Band (who play a dance either every month or perhaps even every week at the village attached to the Henry Ford Museum) and called by Glen Morningstar, my favorite caller.

My parents play (he the hammered dulcimer, she the mountain dulcimer) in a band that hosts contra dances every month or two, and my dad recently (last year) started helping to provide the music for a local Scottish country dance group. (Which gets us invited to a Memorial Day gathering of the Ann Arbor-area traditional music and dance community, including a contra dance, each year---which is very nice.)

The history as I understand it: Square and contra dancing both developed in America from European country dancing, throwing the various styles into the folk process but simplifying them all significantly. (Scottish country dance has stuff that you're supposed to do with your feet at specific points in the dance, and I suspect English country dance does too; in square and contra dancing all that matters in relation to your feet is that you're in the right place at the right time facing the right way, and that you don't step on anyone.) And with dancers being farmers rather than gentry---and, again, with the folk process changing dances all over the place---it became unreasonable to expect the dancers to all know one version of the same dance by heart, so callers became important.


My theory is that dancing began to go downhill (my standard line is that "my idea of dancing is the sort of thing that was popular when George Washington was president") when people stopped primarily writing tunes to existing dances (and occasionally modifying dances to work especially well with particular tunes) and started writing an entirely new dance for each new popular song. (I also think that the invention of electrified musical instruments and of electrical amplification was either the tipping point in the decline of popular music, or yet another particularly heavy straw on the camel's back.)