Next Saturday Evening Contra Dances on 11th July at St Albans School
and First Saturdays in Aug, Oct, Nov and Dec at Addington School

Please mark 11 July, 1 Aug, 3 Oct, 7 Nov and 5 Dec on your calendar
but check closer to the time to confirm venue and more details.

7:30 to 10:30 pm
No Experience Needed!
No Partners Needed!
All Dances Taught!
Easy and Lots of Fun!
Please bring a supper plate to share.
Only $5 (you can get in free by helping see below)

Muscos look at the contra videos, listen to the great music. Get some brackets ready for the next dances.
Musicians play for one dance and get in free!
Call a dance, get in free!

Here is a flyer.

More information or to request being on mailing list please contact Bill Baritompa.

Huranui Community Education Courses Term 3

Introduction to Square and Contra Dancing, Weekly – Tuesdays 7 pm to 9 pm (21 July to 11 August) - Last years course was full of fun and laughter, so I am offering it again. You will learn by doing! This is a series of four dances which require no prior experience. These dances are taught and called, so over 4 weeks you will get a feel for American Square and Contra Dancing.

Introduction to Square and Contra Dancing Calling - Two Saturday afternoon workshops for adults and children (over 9) - 25 July and 8 August - A community “barn dance” is a great way for all ages to interact and have fun together. These workshops will teach adults how to teach and call some traditional square and contra dances, so they can run their own community dances. It’s quite easy really, all you need to know is how to count to 8!

Contra so far in 2009

Anzac Day: A great turn out. A great band: King Cole and his Fiddlers Three, formed especially for this dance. A big thank you to Emma, Pearl, Christine and Lou on fiddles and Leyland on the bass. The contra community is starting to build up here. People are getting good at remembering the dances, and it was great to be able to dance to live music. Thanks you to everyone for helping with supper, tea and cleaning up. Thanks to Heather for the loan of equipment for the band.

Easter weekend: The Canterbury Folk Festival was a great success - a fantastic weekend. Thanks you Russell and all the crew! Bill and Jeremy called the Friday evening barn dance. Bill ran two contra workshops. Everyone got into some really smooth dancing grooving to the music.

14 March: Great turn out with 32 dancers. As part of International Money Musk day, we danced this traditional dance. Check out this video.

28 February: The dance at Addington School hall was a great success. Everyone (28 dancers) warmed up nicely on the cold and rainy night.

6 February: Wellington Contra caller Cashy Yates ran a great contra dance as part of the 8th FDNZ National Camp: Farandol's 30th Anniversary Extravaganza.

Waitangi Weekend: Bill ran three contra workshops at the Waihi Bush Music Festival.

Contra Dance in New Zealand

There are clubs in Dunedin and Wellington, and dances 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 2008

20 people on a cold July day


Contra Beginnings 2 in Christchurch Sunday 13 April 2008

A great dance.


Contra Dance Workshop 2008 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 2008

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.