What is Contra Dance?

It's a communal-style folk dance that is fun and easy to learn. No partner or experience is necessary. A caller leads the dancers through a series of moves and the sequence repeats itself. The patterns are very easy to learn and it's more like walking to music. An evening consists of 10-12 dances, each with a different combination of a few simple moves. You can enjoy dancing in a friendly, fun, mostly wholesome environment.

Useful Links

Here are some links which will explain contra dancing even more:

  1. Greg Rohde's article "Hands Four" will explain why we love it so much.
  2. Tips for Beginners from the Columbia, MO web site
  3. Basic Dance Figures from the Columbia, MO web site
  4. Tips for Experienced Dancers from the Columbia, MO web site
  5. Style tips from the Atlanta, GA web site
  6. A few definitions of contradancing from Gary Shapiro's web site.
    (Numbers 3 and 5 are perennial favorites)
  7. Origins and History of Contra Dance (Wikipedia Article)
  8. Choreography & Figures (Wikipedia article)
  9. Contra Dance Markup Language
  10. Contra Dance Designer from the Seattle web site
  11. Random Contra Dance Generator
  12. Bill Pope’s Style Tips on Dancing Better
  13. More Style Tips – How • When • Where
  14. The Top Ten (plus) Things That Make a Good (Contra) Dancer from the Cincinnati web site.

One-minute History of Contra Dance

Modern Contra Dance was originally the English Country Dancing which had spread to France and America in pre-and-post-Revolutionary times (think Jane Austin movies). American Colonials loved to dance, but they didn't want to be seen doing anything "English" so they adopted the French name, "Contre Danse" (meaning "line facing line" but probably a corruption of "Country Dance"). The name lived on as "Contra Dance".

It survived, like an underground stream, in New England town halls, and became popular during the counter-culture 60s, along with folk singing, Birkenstocks and crunchy granola. It spread rapidly because it was fun and flirtatious and communal, reflecting the times.

The dances changed, as new dances were written in which there was less standing around and more "swing time". The tempos became faster, the dances more flowing and energetic. In the Northeast, most of the dances were done to the jigs and reels of the British, Irish and French Canadian traditions. In the South and here in the Midwest, most dancing was done to more southern, old-timey fiddle music. The West Coast is home to healthy examples of both traditions.