"Line up for a contra dance"... "Repair your square"... I had an opportunity to say these things when calling a contra dance for square dancers last month, and when calling a square dance for contra dancers this month.
Last month at a regularly scheduled dance of the local modern Western square dance club Saints-N-Aints (of which I am a member in good standing), I called the contra dance "Al's Safeway Produce" written by Robert Cromartie. Pictures above, I had six willing couples who braved a new experience. They did a great job, and they were good sports! I wanted their first exposure to contra dancing to be fun. For the full experience, I invited local band Cultural Ecology to play for this dance.
Last month at a regularly scheduled dance of the local modern Western square dance club Saints-N-Aints (of which I am a member in good standing), I called the contra dance "Al's Safeway Produce" written by Robert Cromartie. Pictures above, I had six willing couples who braved a new experience. They did a great job, and they were good sports! I wanted their first exposure to contra dancing to be fun. For the full experience, I invited local band Cultural Ecology to play for this dance.
Imagine a band schlepping their instruments, setting up, tuning up and playing O-N-E dance! I appreciated their enthusiasm for sharing live music with the square dancers, who only infrequently dance to live music.
Interestingly, during the walk through, the top eight dancers turned themselves into a square formation after the first two calls. What?! No squares in this dance! I was fascinated to watch that transformation.
It was challenging for them to grok the contra formation, and the progression of couple #1 dancing with the next neighbors down the hall and couple #2 dancing with new neighbors up the hall. But I saw many smiles, and full effort!
Interestingly, during the walk through, the top eight dancers turned themselves into a square formation after the first two calls. What?! No squares in this dance! I was fascinated to watch that transformation.
It was challenging for them to grok the contra formation, and the progression of couple #1 dancing with the next neighbors down the hall and couple #2 dancing with new neighbors up the hall. But I saw many smiles, and full effort!
This month at Contra on the Coast (a weekend contra dance event), I called the traditional southern square "Take a Little Peek". Because traditional square dances have few moves, the contra dancers caught on very easily. They had a good time, and I was encouraged enough to consider calling another square!
One similarity I noticed is that at each of these two dances, there were one or two people "on strike" who wouldn't even give it a try. Earlier in the day at one of these events, I had a woman annoyingly ask me why do squares and contras have to be together? She announced they are two very different things, and she had no intention of doing the other. Okay, but it seems like everyone else had a lot of fun.
One similarity I noticed is that at each of these two dances, there were one or two people "on strike" who wouldn't even give it a try. Earlier in the day at one of these events, I had a woman annoyingly ask me why do squares and contras have to be together? She announced they are two very different things, and she had no intention of doing the other. Okay, but it seems like everyone else had a lot of fun.
RSS Feed