F.A.Q. & Links
What is Contradance?
Here are two pages that answer that question: the first on Wikipedia, the second from Gary Shapiro. For a personal story and testimonial, read Greg Rohde's wonderful essay on the St. Louis dancers' web site.
Words can't fully describe how much fun contradancing is, so visit Bob Bennett's wonderful dance photos (shot mostly in the southeast US) and look at the expressions on the dancers' faces.
There are many videos of contradancing on the web. Quality varies tremendously. Here are four fairly good ones that give you an idea of the range of music and moods that you will find at contradances:
- 40 seconds (Lansing) Short but sweet. The music fits the dance so well!
- 79 seconds (Montpelier) A slightly shakey video, but listen to that band!
- 83 seconds (LEAF) Smooth, flowing jigs for a smooth, flowing dance.
- 19 minutes (Brattleboro Dawn Dance)
The short videos and the first 70 seconds of the long one are good examples of recently composed dances. The second dance and tune on the long long clip (starting at 1:25) date from the War of 1812. Contradance a living tradition with roots going all the way back to the 17th Century!
For more even more information, and for merchandise related to traditional dance and song (books, recordings, etc), see the Country Dance and Song Society.
Where can I dance?
In Texas:
Houston Area Traditional Dance Society
Austin
Bryan/College Station
North Texas Traditional Dance Society
San Antonio Contradancers
For the rest of the country, check Ted Crane's National Dance Database.
Music
We get our tunes from many sources, including these:
New England Fiddler's Repertoire | The Portland Collection | SPUDS Tune List
For more even more information, and for merchandise related to traditional dance and song — including the books listed above, recordings, and much more — visit the Country Dance and Song Society.