Contra dancing

Published in The Post-Star (G1)
3/2/06

The couples face each other in long lines as the music begins, then lock eyes and clasp hands as their bodies move closer. After a swirl of motion and eight beats of music, the lines shift to create new couples.

Speed dating meets musical chairs?

No, this is contradancing, a centuries-old form of entertainment that is still bringing people together.

"It's a scene where you can be friendly with people, look into their eyes, and move on," explained Doug Haller, a board member of Hudson-Mohawk Traditional Dances, which sponsors monthly contradances in Ballston Spa.

"I've heard a lot of people comment that going to bars is not necessarily the best way to meet people," he added. "And this definitely isn't the bar scene."

It certainly isn't. The dances take place in the wood-floored sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church, and the only drinks in sight are water bottles and coffee cups. Getting sweaty on the dance floor means swinging and spinning, not bumping and grinding.

"It's really a wonderful feeling when you come out of a spin at the right time and there's your partner, falling into your arms," Haller said. "And by the end of the night, you've probably danced with everyone in the room."

Sometimes, you find a partner worth holding on to, Haller pointed out. He met his wife, Ann, at a Saratoga contradance about seven years ago. Rich Futyma and his wife of three years, Maria, also met contradancing.

"I always think of contradancing as being good for a person in three ways -- it's a cultural event, it's exercise and it's social. It lets you interact with people even if you're relatively shy," said Futyma, an environmental consultant from Ballston Spa who organizes the local contradances.

Contradances are set to live music, usually bouncy Irish jigs and reels that involve a fiddle. Futyma said contradancing descends from 17th-century English country dancing, which could explain the name.

"One theory is that the word 'contra' is simply a French corruption of the word 'country,' that started when contradancing was carrried over to France," he said. The term could also refer to the fact that dancers line up against each other.

A caller gives instructions at the beginning of each dance number, making it easy for even the clumsiest novice to participate.

"There's a saying that if you can walk, count to eight, and know your left from your right, you can contra dance," Haller said.

Children as young as 8 were keeping up with the adults, proving his point.

One divorced father brought his kids along, and let them dance on their own while he worked his way down the line looking for ladies to flirt with. It's the best of both worlds, he pointed out -- a dating scene with built-in babysitting.

For 22-year-old Rebecca Swank, who said she started dancing "in the womb," contra dances are about having fun, not getting a date. She brought her own.

Her boyfriend, 21-year-old Kyle Morse, became a contra dancer about four years ago.

"I roped him into it," Swank said with a sly smile. "You'll not find a friendlier, more outgoing group of people than in this environment."

Morse nodded.

"It's just a nice, social thing," he said.

Proceeds from Saturday night's dance went to benefit the Dance Flurry, which is facing at least a $75,000 loss this year because last month's power outage in Saratoga Springs forced organizers to cancel most of the three-day annual festival. Other benefits are in the works, said Haller, the administrative director of the Dance Flurry.

"We've already seen several big checks tonight, and that's encouraging," he said. "We hope to make over $1,000 tonight."

Contradancing is always part of the Dance Flurry, he said, and it's often a first step into other forms of traditional and folk dancing.

"It's the easiest to get started in, so it's a portal to the rest of the dance world," Haller said. "Most of what you're doing is walking, basically."
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