Regular Saturday Contra will not restart
Dancing at Addington School Hall
Gary and Theo have started regular Ceilid/Barn dances there!
Checkout Theo & G facebook page
I may come to these sometimes and call a few contras.
For more information
please contact Bill.
To get contra email notices sign up here.
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 Dance in New Zealand
There are regular dances in Dunedin, Wellington, Contra dancing began in Dunedin in 1996, the dances in the other citys began after meeting Ron and Cathy Arp's touring contra groups from the USA which started in 2002. Bill and Liz traveled with them in February 2008. Six dances in 10 days! Bill learned a lot and was 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.