“Contra Dance Weekend” Is the New “20-Mile Hike with Full Pack”
The weekend-long Wasatch Wiggle contra-dance event ended on Sunday, and three days later I’m finally getting feeling back in my toes. The blisters speckling my feet are turning into odd-shaped lumps of callus. My knees and hips have stopped trying to give way at odd times and they no longer feel uncertain about which way they’re supposed to bend. So much dancing! So much fun.
I wonder how many miles I walked, hopped, skipped or pirouetted over the weekend. And how many calories’ worth of high-energy snacks I nibbled on from the sideboard between dances. The best I can hope is that I broke even, I’m afraid.
The music was provided by Notorious, which performed as a duo+1—Eden Macadam-Somer, Larry Unger and Sam Bartlett—and they are fanTAStic. Seriously. Go watch this video of them performing “Gelem, Gelem” (the Romani national anthem) earlier this year at a different contra dance event. Marvelous.
The caller was Rick Mohr, and he led us through round after round of intricate, exciting choreography, almost without pause. I guess it’s really Rick Mohr’s fault my feet are so tired.
I took along my new-ish camera—a Canon PowerShot SX200 IS—to the Wiggle, and amused myself/annoyed everyone else when I wasn’t dancing by filming and photographing everything that happened. Here is some of the evidence:
Click below to view the full Flickr set:
Contra dancing is fun, is (relatively) easy on the joints, can be excellent exercise, and is danced to gorgeous music. And it’s great for beginners, because the steps are fairly simple, each dance begins with a run-through beforehand and then is danced to called instructions. Find a contra dance event near you and check it out!
Related links:
Wasatch Contras
Notorious
Notorious (Myspace)
Rick Mohr
