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Health & Fitness

Adventures In Contra Dancing

Contra dancing, a form of dancing with roots in Europe and New England barn dancing, is experiencing a renewed popularity.

Contra dancing is an amusement park ride that we make for ourselves, set to music.  It’s a form of dance that is several centuries old, and it's undergoing a resurgence across the country. It’s most closely related to English Country dancing.  Dances are more prevalent in New England, and the eastern half of the country.  It has been reported that George Washington was a contra dancer.

 The easiest way to learn what contra dance is, is to get out there, find a dance, and experience it.   Heave yourself into the action.  It’s a fantastic way to socialize with your friends and neighbors, and to make new friends.   Somewhere in our history, more accurately, somewhere in European history, somebody with a pack of good sense invented a magnificent way to meet, mingle, and get some serious exercise, burn calories in a group setting, and my hat’s off to them.

 It’s open to everyone, age seven and up, all genders, and, most importantly, all skill levels.  There is always a live band comprised primarily of string instruments.  Dances have a short, beginner-level class – that usually begins a half-hour prior to the dance itself – in order to teach newcomers the basic moves.   Even if you come with a partner, you generally switch partners for each dance, but, of course, couples that come together often dance more than one dance together.

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 A caller teaches the dance first, walking everyone through the moves and the figures until everyone has an idea of what is going to happen.   Usually the caller suggests that new dancers partner up with more experienced dancers until newbies get the hang of things. Dances begin either in long lines or in sets of four in long lines.  Then the music begins and the caller leads the dances, calling out the prompts and getting everyone moving together.  You work through various figures and moves with that other couple, often “swinging” your neighbor before returning to your partner and then the pair of you whirl away and move on to the next couple in line, repeating the sequence.  Some nights you dance with every person of the opposite sex in the room.  The action can have the highs and lows of a roller-coaster, and the “swings” can incorporate the centrifugal force of a tilt-a-whirl. As the dance proceeds and everyone seems to be mastering it, the caller often eases up on the calling, or stops calling altogether, and lets everyone dance on their own and enjoy the music.

Men ask ladies to dance, ladies ask men to dance.  Sometimes women dance with women and men with men, particularly when there’s a gender imbalance.  Women seem to be able to dance more easily with other women, than men with men, but I’ve partnered up with a man at a dance…and I couldn’t stop laughing.  That’s the key!  Often you’ll see a whole gym full of people with smiles on their faces, laughing and whooping it up. People of all walks of life come together and have a fantastic time.  There is always a break and a pot-luck halfway through the dance.  The dances generally last three hours.  

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Besides an adventurous spirit, all you really need to contra dance is light, loose-fitting clothing. You’ll get warm dancing. Mark those words! I usually take an extra shirt to a dance.  The best shoes to wear are the kind with smooth, soft soles.  I initially started dancing with gym shoes, (I’m rarely without them), believing that anything is possible with gym shoes.  However, you really want something with less “grip” than gym shoes.  Before I purchased inexpensive dancing shoes, the Utica Shoe Service on Van Dyke did a fine job of affixing suede soles to a pair of my old New Balance cross-training shoes.  Those suede soles performed remarkably well, even when I was still learning, and still requiring a helpful shoving into position by a smiling, helpful partner.

Until we can get dances organized in the Shelby-Utica area, the nearest regular dance is held on the fourth Saturday of the month, sponsored by the Oakland County Traditional Dance Society (OCTDS.ORG), at the First United Methodist Church in Troy, 6363 Livernois, (N. of Square Lake Rd.). The next OCTDS dance, though, is the annual “Starry Night For A Ramble” co-sponsored with Rochester’s Paint Creek Folklore Society, with music provided by the fabulous Paint Creek Country Dance Orchestra.  (NOT the fourth Saturday).

  •  7:30 for the beginner’s session
  •  8:00 pm for the dance
  • $10 General admission $8 for students, children under 12 FREE!
  • Bring a dessert/snack and get $3 off your admission!  There will be cakes, cookies, fruit, vegetables, beverages, and assorted other goodies available at the break.

A more extensive schedule of dances in Michigan can be found at the website for Ann Arbor Community for Traditional Music and Dance, (AACTMAD.ORG) for dances in Detroit, Farmington, Flint, Lansing, Midland, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids…

If you care to get a head start on the aforementioned “Starry Night” dance, and you don’t mind a cruise downtown, there is a dance at Central Methodist Church, 23 E. Adams, Detroit, the church visible from the left field stands in Comerica Park, home of the 2012 world champion Detroit Tigers, the church that rises up a couple of stories above Cheli’s Chili.  There is always a great group of folks that dance at Central Methodist eager to help any Contra beginner.

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