Contra Dancing in Christchurch - monthly and weekly dances

Evening Contra Dances Addington School
Dances on the first Saturday of each month
Next dance 1 November
with band Scotch Measure

Dance 7:30 to 10:30 pm (Learners Workshop 7 to 7:30)
Live Music!
No Experience Needed!
No Partners Needed!
All Dances Taught!
Easy and Lots of Fun!
An Alcohol Free Community Oriented Event.
Please bring a supper plate to share.
Only $5 (you can get in free by helping see below)

Muscos look at the contra videos, listen to the great music. Get some brackets ready for the next dances.
Musicians play for one dance and get in free!
Call a dance, get in free!

Here is a flyer.

More information or to request being on mailing list please contact Bill Baritompa.

Every Thursday - Dances at our house

An outlet for those who have caught the contra bug.
A means to support up and coming musicians.
Details here.

Contra Dances So Far in 2014

Saturday 4 October - 57 Dancers. A Mega Open band with Bernard Wells (mandoline, flute and fiddle) from Wellington Chili Jam and Heather (accordion), Claire (fiddle), Margo (mandolin), Paul (guitar), Geoff (bass), George (percussion), Jonathan (guitar), Ann (fiddle), Mike (guitar) and Sue (fiddle). The callers were Bill, Rob and Bernadette from Dunedin contra. Thank you to the Dunedin dancers for their special visit, and our dancers Patricia, Annette, Helen, Gary, Jane and Sue who looked after them. We had a few new folk who came via the Body Festival events. Video playlists.

Saturday 20 September - Bill introduced NELSON to contra dance! 35 dancers attended a Post Election Hoedow. A number of musicians there and others are keen to organise some regular dancing. We had good support from the local Scottish dancers. An evening of great great fun!

Saturday 6 September - 45 Dancers. Some new exciting tunes by Strawberry Town Hooligans: Emily, Paul, Geoff and George with help from Heather. Paul ran the introductory workshop, called 3 dances, Rob called 2, Michael 1 and I did 4. Video playlists.

Saturday 2 August - 64 Dancers. A big welcome to the Japanese students from Papanui HS and their visitors. Also nice to see quite a few UC students. An open band led by fiddler Aleks Taranov from Princeton, New Jersey with Emily, Jill (fiddles), Margo (mandolin), Paul (guitar), Geoff (bass), George (percussion) and Bill (banjo) lifted the floor with their solid tunes and variations. Geoff and Doug set up and mixed the sound. Callers Bill, Paul and Rob. The Secret Lives of Ukuleles (Emily, Carl, Helen, Lance and Paul) performed two songs at half time. It was Rob's debut, and he did a fantastic job calling Easy Petronella. The new callers Paul, Michael and Rob are giving variety to our dances, and giving me a chance to dance with Liz and also play a bit of music again. Video playlists.

Saturday 5 July - 28 Dancers. Fantastic music by Scotch Measure: Clare, Alan (Keyboards); Natalie, Jill, George (fiddles); Rosalie (accordion); Margo (mandoline); Helen (drums); George (spoons). Jon on sound - a great effort for such a large band. Bill, Paul and Michael called. A very low turnout which is a shame because the band deserves more. Video summary.

Saturday 7 June - 84 Dancers. Music by Strawberry Town Hooligans: Margo, Emily, Paul, and George with help from Heather with mixing and playing some. Paul ran the introductory workshop, called the mid break Waves of Tory and finished off the evening. A great turnout.

Saturday 3 May - 65 Dancers. Music by Scottish duo Ronan Martin and Sandy Brechin. Jon on sound. Gary King a caller from Melbourne taught us a couple of dances. We danced a double contra (4 face 4) written by Bill: Lyttelton.

Saturday 5 April - 51 Dancers. Music by Heather, Margo, Bridget, Paul, Oscar, Geoff and George with Jon mixing and Doug assisting. We did a variety of dances. See if you can find yourself here. Kath took some great photos and some are used in this video.

Saturday 1 March - 69 Dancers. Music by Heather, Margo, Emily, Paul, Geoff and George with Mikki mixing. Michael called a few dances. Bill used some of the new dances he learned from the tour. A very enjoyable evening. The tour remarked how strong our contra community is. A big welcome to the new dancers who came.

Saturday 8 February - We had Ron and Cathy's tour visit for a great start to the year. Thirty of them and lots of our dancers totaled 97. Music by tour musicians: Avant Gardeners - Laura Light (fiddle) and George Paul (keyboard/accordion), Cathy Arps (fiddle), Arlen Bass (bass), Patricia Klaers (dulcimer), Maureen Knight (UK) (keyboard) together with our local talent Heather (accordion), Paul (Guitar) and George (Lagerphone). Jon on sound. I started everyone off with a mixer and called Waves of Tory in the break. The tour callers Keith Cornett-Eustis, Terry Stefan and Henry Ferguson called a fine selection of dances.

Contra Dance in New Zealand

Besides Christchurch, there are clubs in Dunedin and Wellington, and dances now in Auckland. The inspiration came when Bill and Liz traveled with Ron and Cathy Arp's touring contra group from the USA in February 2008. Six dances in 10 days! Bill learned a lot and is keen to share the new dances with you.

A Short Description of Contra dancing (some videos here)

Check out the Chattahoochee Country Dancers web page for a detailed description and some instructional videos links.

The video The Contra Dance by Doug Plummer shows the joy and excitement you will experience at this type of dance.

The following is extracted from a web article: "What is Contra Dance?" by Gary Shapiro.

A caller, usually working with a group of live musicians, guides new and experienced alike through a variety of dances.

A dancer and his or her partner dance a series of figures, or moves, with each other and with another couple for a short time. They then repeat the same figures with another couple, and so on. The figures are similar to those in a barn dance. The figures are combined in different ways for each different dance.

The caller teaches each dance before it is actually done to the music. This gives everyone an idea of what to expect so the movements can be easily executed. The caller leads the dances while they are being done to music, so dancers are able to perform each movement to the music. Once the dancers appear to have mastered a particular dance, the caller may stop calling, leaving the dancers to enjoy the movement with music alone.