The Question on Everybody’s Lips
What IS contra dancing? I know you all have asked yourself this question. It has preyed on your mind and robbed you of precious sleep and daydreaming time. You have perused the Wikipedia article, the various web pages devoted to the subject, and even combed my blog for clues. Some of you may even have been desperate enough to peruse REAL-kipedia articles on the subject.
Saints be praised, your troubles are at an end, because I’ve now posted a video of myself dancing a simple contra-dance sequence. And surely you don’t have any questions that cannot be answered by a video set to a rousing country reel!
The sequence of steps found in the above video:
- Star Through with neighbor
- Star Through with partner
- Star Through with neighbor
- Gents (or Leads) Allemand Left 1-1/2
- Gypsy with partner
- Swing partner
- Long Lines Forward and Back
- Lady’s Chain with Courtesy Turn
- Start over with new couple!
Thanks to Siri, my partner in the video.
After dancing, I took the following pictures of my friend Courtney and me in the car. She is a true friend, and was the cinematographer of the above professional-quality instructional video.
After I got home, the evening was far from over. One of my old friends from Utah Valley is now a fortunate Salt Lake County resident, and he wanted to go to the club. Well, he wanted to go to the club last week, too, but he totally blew me off. But we won’t mention that.
So I got all dolled up in my new, tight bootcut jeans, a tight, ribbed, white A-shirt under my tight, dark-blue T-shirt with the rubric “¿QUE TAL?”, all along with shoes and socks and unmentionables. And then I went to the club! And guess what: the same friend had dogged me AGAIN! I won’t ask if you can believe it, because it happened, and it doesn’t matter if you believe it. But it turns out another of my old Utah Valley friends now lives up here, and was at the club, and he is much more reliable than Friend #1. So I danced with Friend #2 and his group, and (of course) I eventually got so hot and sweaty that I felt like ripping my clothes off. Fortunately, I had planned ahead and worn the A-shirt, so off the dark-blue T-shirt came, and I danced away in next to nothing at all. SCANDALOUS!
So Friend #2 gave me a ride back from the club, and after stopping briefly at Village Inn to replenish my depleted stores of pure sugar and saturated fat, I went home to tell you all about it.
What a good day! I’m exhausted. Time for bed. ‘Night!
Like
June 17th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Some great moves there – well done! I’ve tried some similar dances on a few occasions (Scandinavian square dances and the like), but the moves and, above all, the etiquette is all so complicated that I can never remember how it goes from one verse to the next… needless to say, with often hilarious consequences. Oh well, “Üben macht den Meister”, as they say…
June 17th, 2007 at 9:10 am
It was good to see you at the club last night. And it looked like you were having loads of fun in all your tightness, even if the b****** dogged you. :)
June 17th, 2007 at 10:19 am
DavidH, I’m surprised at how quickly I’ve picked up contra dancing, since I usually have a hard time with high-energy pattern dances, like square or line dancing. Maybe the sedate pace of contra is more to my style?
Edgy, I had a blast at the club, and it looked like you did, too, along with your group of six or seven people I almost recognized. The Trapp Door’s face lift (along with the clement weather, which opened up the patio) has made it a much more congenial environment. I’m all excited to go back now!
June 20th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
So I just watched the video and my youngest came over and said “Dancing!” Then she started twirling with her arms over her head in time to the music. Truly, it is an instructional video.