Re: why square dance at contras?

Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 23:35:39 -0400
Newsgroups: rec.folk-dancing
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I have been frustrated for years about the contra vs. squares wars.
I love squares. I love contras as well. I recently have been running a
small dance in West Chester, PA where we do both by alternating from one
dance to the next with an emphasis on contras and then the following
dance emphasizing squares. We do both during each evening. For the
square-heavy nights we have hired old-time string bands, and for the
contra heavy nights we have hired, er, contrabands.
Here are my thoughts about why contra dancers don't seem to like squares.
1. Many contra dance callers do not have the training to call squares.
Because of this, they lack the timing, awareness, and creativity needed
to get a good square dance going and to sustain it. Bad calling tends
to mean a breakdown in communication with the dancers, with confusion,
bad dancing, and frustration as the outcome. If you listen to dance
callers who can call squares well, you will notice that they are always
aware of what's going on in the square, they make attempts to alleviate
the problem without jeapordizing the entire dance, they continue calling
throughout the dance to both do different figures and to remind people
of the figures-- and-- if all else fails, they stop the dance and go
onto another square, thus reducing the frustration and enabling people
to proceed at a comfortable pace. Square dance calling is a skill of
high competency, and to do it well means a lot of time in the woodshed.
(Not that contra dance calling is easy; it's a different skill set)
2. With the trends of modern urban contradancing (I will call it MUC
from now on-- thanks, Dudley, for making the difference apparent),
calling has been reduced to a few prompts done a few times through the
dance. This has to do with the desire of MUC dancers to focus on spins,
twirls, flourishes, flirting, and a machine-like timing. To paraphrase
Seinfeld: "Not that there's anything wrong with this!" It's just that
the nature of MUC seems more oriented to providing this mechanized flow
that dancers have come to expect. Square dancing demands that you
actually listen as you dance. Your brain and body are engaged on a
different level. I would imagine that MUC dancers would need to develop
these skill sets to be able to experience square dancing with more
enjoyment.
3. When I first started contra dancing (after I had been doing squares
for quite a while), I liked the format of the evening: Some squares,
some Sicilian Circles, some contras (proper and duple-and-triple-minor
ones as well!), a schottische (how many dances do them anymore???),
maybe a hambo, maybe a polka, and one good night waltz. I think the MUC
trend has changed this mix considerably. Back then, we enjoyed it all.
The callers were able to pull it all off pretty well. Sometimes the
past is not a bad place to learn lessons from.
But hey, Bubba, whaddoIknow? I'm just a crusty old accordion player,
after all...
-Bob "I'm practicing for Crusty Old Farthood" Stein
--
Bob Stein, email-address-deleted
(To reply. remove the appropriate words from my address)
"When a man's best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem."-- Edward Abbey