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On the road again:
Greetings from Daytona Beach, Florida, where yesterday Cyndy and I walked the famous hard-packed sand along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline.
We shared that space with other walkers and joggers, automobiles, bicycles, and a few interesting seashells … all shaded from the late afternoon sun by a plethora of high-rise hotels and condos.
Today's Story
In previous blogs, I’ve mentioned contra dancing, a form of social dancing that we will engage in this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at an event called Orange Blossom Ball.
Next weekend, we will be in Gulfport, Florida, at Snow Ball. A month from now, we’ll be at Dancing with the Gods in Gainesville, Florida.
In the week of Christmas, including New Years Eve, we attended Contradancers Delight Holiday in Morgantown, West Virginia. And on the first weekend in January, Cyndy danced at Chatta Boogie in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Often, when we mention contra dancing, people ask, “What is that?” Perhaps you are asking too.
So the time has come to describe this musical art form. I’ll start with images with which you might already be familiar.
In the movie
Pride and Prejudice, based on a novel of the same name by Jane Austen, there is a scene in which genteel English elites, in their finest formal attire, dance to pleasantly flowing music.
Such dances were moments in the Georgian Era of the late 1700s when men and women could flirt with each other, eye-to-eye but without words, in the open.
This form of dancing is practiced today as English Country Dancing and is the “great-grandmother” of modern contra dancing.
Contra dancing, then, is the much more robust descendant, colored by Celtic, Gaelic, French, and Appalachian influences.
Most bands utilize traditional acoustic instruments: fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, accordion, pennywhistle, bodhran, and foot percussion. Some modern bands include saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, and keyboard.
Here’s another scene. The era is early colonial America. A community of settlers has worked together throughout the day to harvest a crop or raise a barn.
As the sun sets, they share a meal. Musicians bring out their instruments. And everyone, regardless of age and gender, dances. Among the popular dances was the Virginia Reel.
Another image is that of eight people in a square for a square dance. But take those partner pairs out of the square and put them in two long parallel lines. Add more and more and more couples and you have a “contra set.”
The contra set consists of “partners” (you and the person you’re dancing with) and “neighbors” (the couple closest to you). You connect with each other in an orientation protocol known as “hands four.”
A caller leads the dancers through a series of choreographed moves, called “figures,” that stem from English Country Dancing and square dancing: allemande, do-si-do, circle left, circle right, swing, and many more.
After completing a pattern of figures, which lasts for 64 beats of music or about 40 seconds, you and your partner say goodbye to these neighbors, with one pair moving “up the hall” toward the music and the other pair moving “down the hall” away from the music … in
contra directions.
Then, with the aid of the caller, you repeat the pattern with your new neighbors.
The dance continues for ten to 15 minutes, giving each pair of partners an opportunity to interact with each pair of neighbors up and down the set.
So, yes, smiling and greeting many people is a key component of the contra experience.
At some point early in each tune, the caller stops calling and dancers take their cues from the musical phrases and their own kinesthetic memory.
If dancers become confused—and everyone does sometime—they regain the flow by simply connecting with the nearest person who is extending a hand and making eye contact. Or, as we say, “Dance with the one who’s comin’ atcha.”
The contra dance community welcomes couples, families, groups, and singles. Everyone mixes and mingles. Couples who come together may only dance with each other two or three times in the course of an evening. Experienced dancers seek out new dancers to help them better understand the figures.
I have danced with women, men, elders in their 80s or 90s, children as young as four, and moms or dads who carried infants in papoose slings.
The purpose is to enable everyone to have a good time. This is why the best word to describe contra dancing is
community.
The venue is a resort with music, meals, and lodging all under one roof. This makes it super easy to dine and talk with old friends and new acquaintances or lounge and listen while amateur musicians jam to long-favored roots tunes. This year, the participants came from 36 states and three countries.
Even your first contra experience will be easy and fun because the only skill is to walk to the beat of the music. You don’t have to learn certain rhythms or footwork like you do with waltz or foxtrot or cha-cha.
You will find contra dances and contra dancers in many countries of the Western World.
Use this website to find a dance near you.
Wear loose, comfortable, lightweight clothing even in wintertime. You will likely perspire—most dancers do—so don’t wear a sweater or heavy shirt that you can’t remove. Many women and some men wear colorful skirts that flair up and out when they spin.
Bring a pair of comfortable shoes to change into so that you don’t track dirt and moisture from your outdoor shoes onto the dance floor.
When you attend your first dance, arrive 30 minutes early to participate in an orientation session in which the caller will introduce you to basic terminology and techniques.
Go with the intention to dance every dance. The figures, while never hard, do become more complicated as the evening evolves, and you won’t want to miss a step in your forward progress.
It’s best to go to a few local dances before attending a full-fledged weekend where the music talent and the dancers’ experience are of high caliber.
But, please, if this form of recreation appeals to you—if you enjoy moving to music—then do get started with the desire to, someday soon, attend a dance weekend. You will love it. And you will definitely be welcome.
In future blogs, I’ll describe two stories that further relate deeper facets of the contra community.
To see videos of contra dancers in action, search YouTube for keywords “contra dancing.”
Thanks for reading my stories.
Click here to see some of the photos that Cyndy has taken on our journey.
God blesses everyone ... no exceptions.
Robert (Bob) Weir
