What is contra dance?
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NCUS Student Club -- Contra Dances With Wolves: sponsors dances on the NCSU Campus. CDWW has produced an outstanding set of videos ... "Why I dance", "What is contra dance?" and more ...
contradanceswithwolves.org Here are some of the Dances with Wolves videos |
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Video of NCSU dance
Length: 10:00 Clips of NCSU dancers - Why I like contra
Clips of NCSU dancers - Why I like contra
Interview with Joel
Interview with Mitch
Interview with Mary
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Clips of dance and people talking about dance.
Length: 2:30 Clips of NCSU dancers - What is contra
Post NCSU dance group interview
Interview with Kesenia - President of NCSU contra club
Interview with Compton and Morgan
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A brief praise of dance
TheGuardian.com
"... those of us condemned to the miserylands of Britain know that, in a community hall near us, happiness awaits in the shape of friends and strangers, old and young, all ready to share in a common activity. It is quite pointless, except that we feel better afterwards." Read more ...
"... those of us condemned to the miserylands of Britain know that, in a community hall near us, happiness awaits in the shape of friends and strangers, old and young, all ready to share in a common activity. It is quite pointless, except that we feel better afterwards." Read more ...
What is Contra Dance?
- Gary Gary Shapiro web page "What is contra dance."
- A Contra Dance Primer - from the Hamilton Ontario Country Dancers web site.
- Contra dance - Wikipedia page about contra dance.
- What is contra dancing - from the Syracuse Conutry Dancers web page.
- What is Contra Dance - from the Childgrove Country Dances web page
Hands Four
by Greg Rhode
"If I'm ever in a coma, somebody announce "Hands Four" and start shuffling your feet. If that doesn't bring a smile to my face or get my toes tapping, then you know I'm beyond hope.
"Hands Four" is the traditional call that begins every contra dance: an invitation to find a partner, join a long line of people and join hands with a neighboring couple. Small groups of four are formed all the way down the line and dancers eagerly wait for instructions. The caller announces a series of moves and the dancers walk through the dance a couple of times. When the dancers are comfortable with the sequence of moves, the band starts playing, the caller calls the figures and the dancers put it all into a fluid motion. What happens next is pure magic. For the next ten minutes, the dancers meet, separate, weave, reunite and swing. Experienced dancers will adjust to their partner or neighbor, dancing more simply with newer dancers and adding embellishments with experienced ones. At the end of it all, everyone thanks their partner, finds a new partner and lines up for another dance."
Read more ...
"If I'm ever in a coma, somebody announce "Hands Four" and start shuffling your feet. If that doesn't bring a smile to my face or get my toes tapping, then you know I'm beyond hope.
"Hands Four" is the traditional call that begins every contra dance: an invitation to find a partner, join a long line of people and join hands with a neighboring couple. Small groups of four are formed all the way down the line and dancers eagerly wait for instructions. The caller announces a series of moves and the dancers walk through the dance a couple of times. When the dancers are comfortable with the sequence of moves, the band starts playing, the caller calls the figures and the dancers put it all into a fluid motion. What happens next is pure magic. For the next ten minutes, the dancers meet, separate, weave, reunite and swing. Experienced dancers will adjust to their partner or neighbor, dancing more simply with newer dancers and adding embellishments with experienced ones. At the end of it all, everyone thanks their partner, finds a new partner and lines up for another dance."
Read more ...
Contra Addiction
Louisville Magazine - 10 JUN 2014
A great article about contra dance from a newcomer's perspective ...
A great article about contra dance from a newcomer's perspective ...
I am on the Internet looking for information about contra dancing, trying to get some kind of a heads-up as to what it’s all about before I go to the Monday Night Contra Dance, hosted by the Louisville Country Dancers at the Church of the Advent on Baxter Avenue in the Highlands. A friend has invited me, and she tells me that I do not have to worry so much about the “dancing” part — that contra dancing is easy, that I won’t be embarrassed, that anyone can do it. She tells me all the things people have told me every single time before I make a spectacle of myself in every social dance situation.
Read more ...
Read more ...
Youth Flock To Contra Dancing
by MARIKA PARTRIDGE
NPR - All Things Considered
July 02, 2010 3:00 PM
"Contra dancing has been around since the 1700s. If you don't know it — it's kind of like square dancing but with long lines of dancers. The dance is having a renaissance around the country thanks to a thriving youth scene."
Read more ...
NPR - All Things Considered
July 02, 2010 3:00 PM
"Contra dancing has been around since the 1700s. If you don't know it — it's kind of like square dancing but with long lines of dancers. The dance is having a renaissance around the country thanks to a thriving youth scene."
Read more ...
Update: 2016-04-15