Contra Dancing

When one of my friends invited me to go contra dancing, I had to Google it to see what it was.  I learned enough to know it was a mix between polka and line dancing as well as some waltzs which sounding fun.  Apparently there’s groups all over the country that do this on a regular basis, sometimes for whole weekends.

We went to a local square dancing center and for the first ½ hour the caller gave us instructions on some of the basic dance steps and let us know what to expect.  One thing he told us was that when you spin you needed to make sure to keep eye contact or look at your partner’s chin/forehead so you wouldn’t get too dizzy!! The dancing looks similar to what you see in the movie Pride and Prejudice with Kiera Knightly.

As some of the “regulars” trickled, in my eyes got wide.  They included some retired couples, large families from farming communities an hour or two away, a man dressed in a kilt, a few men wearing long skirts and several barefoot men in their 50’s.  I should have done a little more research so I was dressed appropriately.  “Peasant skirts” seemed to be the thing to wear for the females because of comfort and effect when swinging and twirling.  I felt slightly scandalous in my skirt that only came down to my knees!! J  As I was observing my potential dance partners I concluded I was definitely out of my element but there was no backing at now!

There were three musicians playing the “jigs” for us to dance to. One cool thing about contra dancing in the US is that typically you switch up dance partners every dance so you don’t necessary have to bring a partner. One thing I had to get used to though was the fact that a lot of times there’s not enough guys for all the ladies, so some ladies end up playing male parts.  

The people there were all very nice and patient especially with a newbie like me.  Both the men and women were great about giving pointers and forgiving un-coordination! I was very thankful for that since once I started to finally get the hang of some dance steps they would change the song and dance up and I had to start all over! Each song usually took 10-15 minutes to run through so I must just be a slow learner when it comes to dancing! J

All in all it was a fun experience and a great workout.  The 3 hours flew by and I learned about something new. I was glad I was able to be open to a new experience as uncomfortable I might have felt at first. Check out this video for an idea of what it was like.