Next Sunday Afternoon Contra Dance December 2008 or January 2009
Muscos look at the contra videos, listen to the great music. Get some brackets ready for the next dances.
Bill and Liz will be exploring dancing in Japan. When we get back it will be time to start contra dances again.
More information please contact Bill Baritompa.
Contra Dance in New Zealand
There are clubs in Dunedin, Wellington and Auckland, and the beginnings now in Christchurch. 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 (see videos at the bottom of this page)
Check out the Chattahoochee Country Dancers web page for a detailed description and some instructional videos.
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.
Sunday Afternoon 27 July
20 people on a cold July day
Contra Beginnings 2 in Christchurch Sunday 13 April
A great dance.
Contra Dance Workshop Canterbury Folk Festival Saturday 22 March 11am
About 50 people got a taste of contra dancing at the festival. Thanks to some fantastically skilled musicians we were able to dance to live music all the time. Special thanks to Jeremy, Russell and Sophia. People got into the groove of contra dance by "giving weight." It was great to hear the feet hitting the floor in unison on the "balance and swings."
Contra Beginnings in Christchurch Sunday 9 March
Sunday afternoon 20 dancers, 5 musicians and 2 callers joined together to make a fun dance. Special thanks to the HRC trio (Heather, Roger and Claire) for the great music. Also to Dave and George for providing a nice bass line and rhythm section. Thanks to Sue for calling a dance and giving helpful style suggestions. Thanks to Liz for all the behind the scene organization and encouragement.
A Few Videos
Check my youtube page for more.