The group had protested before, and so the arrests had the friendly familiarity of a contra dance.
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But for now, she says the data provide another rationale for moving — and perhaps also learning to contra dance and sashay.
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Many dancers travel regionally (or even nationally) to contra dance weekends and week-long contra dance camps, where they can expect to find other dedicated dancers, great callers, and great bands.
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A NEFFA Thursday night contra dance at the Fresh Pond VFW in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in May 2003, (before the dance moved to Concord) In addition to the annual spring festival, NEFFA conducts the weekly Thursday Night Contra dance, formerly in Cambridge and as of 2006, held at the Concord Scout House.Arpine Babloyan. Contra dance interrupted The Alewife. January 6, 2006.
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Contra dance form describes the arrangement of dancers into contra dance sets and minor sets. There are various forms, and each dance's choreography specifies its formation. A caller's first instructions for each dance are usually to move the dancers into their starting positions according to the choreography for that dance.
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Wild Asparagus is a contra dance band from Western Massachusetts that has toured throughout the United States and Canada.
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Great Bear was a North American contra dance band composed of brothers Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand, their mother Kim Yerton, Chris Miller, Rebecca Bosworth-Clemens, and Dana Billings. It was known as the Great Bear Trio when touring with the first three members, and as the Andrew and Noah Band when touring with only the VanNorstrand brothers. It was the most popular contra dance band in the world, as measured by annual festival bookings. Great Bear made its last appearance at a contra dance in December 2018.
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As a musician, Bartlett has had longtime prominence as a performer and composer in the national contra dance music circuit.
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Retrieved January 12, 2007. The dance is nationally known in the contra dance community for its vibrancy and popularity.Owen Kelley. Edited by Lisa Miotto.
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They also sometimes appear as late night events during contra dance weekends. In response to the demand for tecno contra, a number of contra dance callers have developed repertoires of recorded songs to play that go well with particular contra dances; these callers are known as DJs A kind of techno/traditional contra fusion has arisen, with at least one band, Buddy System, playing live music melded with synth sounds for techno contra dances.
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The Great Bear Trio became well-established within the contra dance scene in the United States and Canada in the 2000s, and has been frequently booked at major contra dance events in the United States and Canada from that time onward. In 2004, the VanNorstrand brothers were featured on A Prairie Home Companion. Since 2015, the VanNorstrand brothers have also been touring with Audrey Knuth and Amy Englesberg as "Wake Up Robin".
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The most common contra dance repertoire is rooted in the Anglo-Celtic tradition as it developed in North America. Irish, Scottish, French Canadian, and Old-time tunes are common, and Klezmer tunes have also been used. The old-time repertoire includes very few of the jigs common in the others. Tunes used for a contra dance are nearly always "square" 64-beat tunes, in which one time through the tune is each of two 16-beat parts played twice (this is notated AABB).
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Ted Sannella (August 14, 1928 - November 18, 1995) was a professional square dance, contra dance and international folk dance caller and choreographer who was active in the region surrounding Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States.
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A Thursday night contra dance at the Fresh Pond Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Glen Echo Park in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Contra dance events are open to all, regardless of experience unless explicitly labeled otherwise, and it is common to see dancers anywhere from 15 to 70 years of age, and with a variety of backgrounds. Contra dances are family-friendly, and alcohol consumption is not part of the culture. Many events offer beginner-level instructions prior to the dance.
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Bartlett performed with The Green Mountain Volunteers on the banjo and as an Appalachian clogger in 1984. He played contra dances around Vermont and New England starting in 1985, supplementing his income by making apple cider for the Chittenden Cider Mill from 1985 to 1988. After moving to Boston he became ensconced in the urban contra dance scene. During this time he played mandolin and tenor banjo with three highly influential touring bands: Uncle Gizmo, Wild Asparagus, and the Clayfoot Strutters, and assisted in reshaping the face of modern contra dance music.
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Bob "Mr. Mac" McQuillen (June 27, 1923 – February 4, 2014) was a teacher, musician, and prolific composer of contra dance tunes. His work in the traditional arts was honored when he was recognized as a National Heritage Fellow.
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CDSS promotes a number of types of traditional dance, including contra dance, English country dance, Scottish country dance, square dance, morris dance, rapper sword, and clogging. CDSS runs several sessions annually at Pinewoods Dance Camp and other sites.
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Contra dancers at the 2019 Flurry Festival Contra dance (also contradance, contra-dance and other variant spellings) is a folk dance made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in the 17th century. Sometimes described as New England folk dance or Appalachian folk dance, contra dances can be found around the world, but are most common in the United States (periodically held in nearly every state), Canada, and other Anglophone countries. Contra dancing is a social dance that one can attend without a partner.
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Occasionally, percussion instruments are also used in contra dancing, such as the Irish bodhran or less frequently, the dumbek or washboard. The last few years have seen some of the bands incorporate the Quebecois practice of tapping feet on a board while playing an instrument (often the fiddle). Until the 1970s it was traditional to play a single tune for the duration of a contra dance (about 5 to 10 minutes). Since then, contra dance musicians have typically played tunes in sets of two or three related (and sometimes contrasting) tunes, though single-tune dances are again becoming popular with some northeastern bands.
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Contra dance callers typically take on a role as the host of a contra dance event, stepping aside only briefly to let the organizers of the dance (who hired them and arranged logistics) make announcements (typically before the break). They are responsible for helping attendees find partners and organize themselves into contra lines, for teaching them the moves of the dance during a walkthrough, and for calling the moves during the dance until the dancers have it memorized. They also coordinate with the band to help them figure out which tunes to play and how long to play a dance for.
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In 2004, Bartlett followed Swamp Ceili with a recording of all original music, Evil Diane. This was the first contra dance repertoire CD to be reviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered. In 2016, Bartlett released a sequel to Evil Diane, Dance-a-rama.
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A figure is a pattern of movement that typically takes eight counts, although figures with four or sixteen counts are also common. Each dance is a collection of figures assembled to allow the dancers to progress along the set (see Progression). A count (as used above) is one half of a musical measure, such as one quarter note in time or three eighth notes in time. A count may also be called a step, as contra dance is a walking form, and each count of a dance typically matches a single physical step in a figure. Typical contra dance choreography comprises four parts, each 16 counts (8 measures) long.
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Do-si-do (), dosado, or dos-à-dos (see spelling below) is a basic dance step in such dance styles as square dance, contra dance, polka, various historical dances, and some reels. It is probably the best-known call in square dancing aside from, perhaps, "Promenade".
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Ralph Page almost single-handedly maintained the New England tradition until it was revitalized in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly by Ted Sannella and Dudley Laufman. The New England contra dance tradition was also maintained in Vermont by the Ed Larkin Old Time Contra Dancers, formed by Edwin Loyal Larkin in 1934. Alt URL The group Larkin founded is still performing, teaching the dances, and holding monthly open house dances in Tunbridge, VT. By then, early dance camps, retreats, and weekends had emerged, such as Pinewoods Camp, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, which became primarily a music and dance camp in 1933, and NEFFA, the New England Folk Festival, also in Massachusetts, which began in 1944. Pittsburgh Contra Dance celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015.
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The parts are called A1, A2, B1 and B2. This nomenclature stems from the music: Most contra dance tunes (as written) have two parts (A and B), each 8 measures long, and each fitting one part of the dance. The A and B parts are each played twice in a row, hence, A1, A2, B1, B2.
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A set is a formationDance Formations of dancers. The most common formations are longways for as many as will, i.e. couples in long lines, and squares, consisting of four couples. The longways formation occurs in over 12,000 modern contra dances;Contra Dance Database it was also the most popular formation in all the dance publications of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
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Bartlett grew up in Putney, Vermont, where he started piano lessons as a young child. Bartlett and his childhood friend Sam Amidon, along with Amidon's younger brother Stefan, formed a contra dance band called Popcorn Behavior. They released three recordings, the first when Amidon and Bartlett were 13 years old. Bartlett played piano and composed some of the songs on the recordings.
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Seattle Metropolitan. p. 70. The band played a key role in reviving this music, bringing it out to the dying milieu of Grange halls and the somewhat-staid milieu of organized Modern Western square dance to a hip, young urban audience. It laid the foundation of a square dance and contra dance scene in and around Seattle that continues to this day.
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In recent years, younger contra dancers have begun establishing "crossover contra" or "techno contra" — contra dancing to techno, hip-hop, and other modern forms of music. While challenging for DJs and callers, the fusion of contra patterns with moves from hip-hop, tango, and other forms of dance has made this form of contra dance a rising trend since 2008. Techno differs from other contra dancing in that it is usually done to recorded music, although there are some bands that play live for techno dances. Techno has become especially prevalent in Asheville, NC, but regular techno contra dance series are spreading up the East Coast to locales such as Charlottesville, VA, Washington, D.C., Amherst, MA, Greenfield, MA, and various North Carolina dance communities, with one-time or annual events cropping up in locations farther west, including California, Portland, OR, and Washington state.
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Bob Dalsemer is a square and contra dance caller.Staff Biography Berea College. Retrieved January 2011 He has called dances for more than 40 years and in more than 30 states, plus internationally in Canada, the Czech Republic, Britain, Belgium, Denmark and Russia. He wrote the book West Virginia Square Dances (CDSS, 1982) and Folk Dance Fun for Schools and Families (John C. Campbell Folk School, 1995).
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In recent years, participatory dancing occurs simultaneously in three halls, most prominently contra dance, international folk dance, and English country dance, in addition to other genres of dance. A variety of concerts, discussions and other more intimate performances take place in numerous class room spaces. Family- oriented events occur during daylight hours on Saturday and Sunday. A courtyard outside is devoted to Morris dancing, Rapper Sword and Longsword dancing.
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NEFFA also conducts a separate annual winter festival called the Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend, in honor of one of the organization's founders, to promote understanding of the history and development of traditional Anglo- American dance forms in New England, especially contra dance and square dance. NEFFA has also published influential books about traditional dance and choreography. NEFFA is an affiliate of the Country Dance and Song Society.
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Also in 1776, Dow published Thirty Seven New Reels & Strathspeys for the Violin, Harpsichord, Piano Forte or German Flute. This is the first collection of music to include the word "Strathspey" in its title. Dow's most famous composition is Monymusk, a contra dance originally published in 1776 under the title of Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk's Reel. The tune was likely named after Sir Grant's estate near Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
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At the end of each dance, the dancers thank their partners. The contra dance tradition in North America is to change partners for every dance, while in the United Kingdom typically people dance with the same partner the entire evening. One who attends an evening of contra dances in North America does not need to bring his or her own partner. In the short break between individual dances, the dancers invite each other to dance.
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Society mascots are considered by some to be a large part of the festival, and those which can be seen being carried around include Cuthbert (Snake, The Round (Cambridge English and Contra dance society)), Hamish (Thistle, Cambridge University Strathspey & Reel Club), Nessie (Loch Ness Monster, Edinburgh), Floyd (Pig, Exeter), Rustle (Ceilidh Monster, Sheffield), Don (Elephant, Warwick) and Charlie (Unicorn, Bristol). Mascot ransoming is now banned at IVFDF after several people sustained injuries at one festival.
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The association also conducts a weekly contra dance series in Concord, Massachusetts. The NEFFA festival was founded in 1944, long before several more famous folk festivals, such as the Philadelphia Folk Festival (1962) and the Newport Folk Festival (1959). In recent decades, NEFFA has been influential as a model for dance and music festivals in New England, and nationally, including upstate New York's Flurry Festival (founded 1988) and Maine's Down East Country Festival (founded 1991).
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One of Sannella's memorable choreographic innovations, inspired by the three-couple English country dance set dance, was to compose "triplets" suitable to contra dance tempo reels and jigs. His 41 published triplets were commonly known as Ted's Triplets. Triplets are still composed, and sometimes seen on the dance floor. Sannella was very interested in the history of dance, and he possessed an extensive collection of 500-plus dance books and more than 3,000 recordings.
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Bob McQuillen was involved in the contra dance community for over 60 years. Over his lifetime, he wrote more than 1,500 dance tunes, most of which he named after people or events in his life. This tradition began with his first tune, "Scotty O'Neil", named after one of his students who had died. McQuillen was the subject of the documentary movie Paid to Eat Ice Cream: Bob McQuillen and New England Contra Dancing in 2001.
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Each time through the dance takes 64 beats, after which the pattern is repeated. The essence of the dance is in following the pattern with your set and your line; since there is no required footwork, many people find contra dance easier to learn than other forms of social dancing. Almost all contra dances are danced to live music. The music played includes, but is not limited to, Irish, Scottish, old-time and French- Canadian folk tunes.
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A caller is a person who prompts dance figures in such dances as line dance, square dance, and contra dance. The caller might be one of the participating dancers, though in modern country dance this is rare. In round dance a person who performs this function is called a cuer. Their role is fundamentally the same as a caller, in that they tell dancers what to do in a given dance, though they differ on several smaller points.
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Tapestry offers lessons in and gatherings for Scandinavian dance, swing dance, English country dance, contra dance, Bollywood dance, and Romani dance. Dance events tend to include a lesson during the half hour before the dance begins and many of the dances are called. The space is rented by outside organizations for meetings, dance rehearsals, and music lessons. City Pages named Tapestry the best place to learn to dance in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area in 2000 and 2001.
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James Massengale states that the melody is of a common 18th century form, used by both Mozart and Haydn, and was therefore well known in Austria at the end of the 18th century.Danielson, p 8 Carl Michael Bellman uses the melody in different shapes for three different songs. Fredman's song no. 11 (“Portugal, Spanjen”) has the form of a light 3/8 Contra dance while no. 12 (”Venus Minerva”) is a steady march in 4/4.
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Romanian dance instructors Sonia Dion and Cristian Florescu review a dance at Pinewoods Dance Camp during the Folk Arts Center of New England session in 2015. International folk dance includes Balkan dance, Middle Eastern dance, contra dance, Hungarian dance, polka, Chinese dance, and Japanese dance. Clubs featuring these ethnic dance genres are enjoyed by non-professional dancers for entertainment. Many clubs that use collections of ethnic folk dances will use the term "international folk dance" or similar in their name.
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A typical evening of contra dance is three hours long, including an intermission. The event consists of a number of individual contra dances, each lasting about 15 minutes, and typically a band intermission with some waltzes, schottisches, polkas, or Swedish hambos. In some places, square dances are thrown into the mix, sometimes at the discretion of the caller. Music for the evening is typically performed by a live band, playing jigs and reels from Ireland, Scotland, Canada, or the USA.
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While the same music is generally played in, for example, parts A1 and A2, distinct choreography is followed in those parts. Thus, a contra dance is typically 64 counts, and goes with a 32-measure tune. Tunes of this form are called "square"; tunes that deviate from this form are called "crooked". Crooked tunes are more commonly used in square dancing, where the phrasing of the dance does not have to align as closely with the phrasing of the music.
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Yankee Dutch crossing is the name of a dance performed in a 4-by-4 square formation of 8 couples (16 dancers). The original version, called simply Dutch Crossing, was choreographed in the English country dance style, by Ernst van Brakel of the Netherlands in 1990. In 2004, contra dance caller Joseph Pimentel modified the choreography in the American style, sometimes called Yankee Dutch crossing to distinguish it from the original. Any number of squares can perform the dance simultaneously.
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The tunes may range from traditional originating a century ago, to modern compositions including electric guitar, synth keyboard, and driving percussion - so long as the music fits the timing for Contra dance patterns. Sometimes, a rock tune will be woven in, to the delight of the dancers.Perpetual eMotion sing 'Eleanor Rigby' Generally, a leader, known as a caller, will teach each individual dance just before the music for that dance begins. During this introductory walk-through, participants learn the dance by walking through the steps and formations, following the caller's instructions.
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The festival has been influential in sustaining and reviving numerous folk dance traditions in New England. As a social dance festival, it is a community experience, the largest in New England of its kind, with about 5,000 combined admissions in the festival's four session periods. It is the inspiration for other similar traditional dance and music festivals throughout the United States and North America. For contra dance and folk dance leaders from New England and the United States, the festival has been an annual opportunity to perform, share experiences, insights, and further living traditions.
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Philip Sharples, who in 1940 had founded the Belmont Country Dance Group (one of the first square and contra dance series in the Boston area), joined with Mary Gillette and Ralph Page in calling local leaders to meet and talk it over. Many recreation agencies and ethnic groups sent representatives. From the start, the Festival Committee agreed to maintain an atmosphere of non-commercialism and high standards of performance and authenticity. The first festival took place on 28–29 October 1944 and attracted 200 attendees, mainly to watch performances of local ethnic dance performing groups.
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The dance was popular in 19th-century America, where it was danced to the tune Put Your Little Foot. It quickly became a favorite folk dance in the Scandinavian countries as well. The unique armhold by the same name – also known as the promenade hold – is used in other dance styles such as the American square dance, contra dance, and some ballroom dances. The Albion Dance Band recorded a varsoviana tune on their 1977 album The Prospect Before Us. A varsoviana tune plays an important role in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire.
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Many traditional square dance calls are similar or identical to contra dance calls, and new dance moves are explained by the caller. In modern western square dance, the participants learn and become proficient in a particular defined set of calls known as a program. The Mainstream program, which is the default level of achievement, consists of close to 70 basic and mainstream calls. Rather than learning a complete routine, modern western square dancers learn basic movements and calls but do not know in what order they will be called.
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Bob McQuillen took piano lessons as a child, but didn't grow attached to music until after his time as a Marine during World War II. He started going to contra dances in and around Peterborough, New Hampshire, several times a week, and eventually joined the Ralph Page Orchestra. At a contra dance in 1946, he met Priscilla Scribner, whom he married a year later. They had three children, Dan, Rebecca, and William. After returning from the Korean War, McQuillen settled down and became an industrial arts teacher at Peterborough High School and ConVal High School.
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Great Bear draws from a mix of genres, including those traditionally used for contra dance music, such as jigs and reels. In the 2010s, its style became increasingly modern, mixing traditional fiddle tunes infused with pop-rock dance grooves and original compositions in the same vein. The band's website states that it is known for its "epic dynamics, genre-transcending arrangements and deep dance grooves". Bluegrass Unlimited described the VanNorstrand brothers' music as "a blend of oldtime country and bluegrass, swing and jazz, Celtic and contra, and alternative folk-rock".
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The "La Trénis" figure of the Contredanse, an illustration from Le Bon Genre, Paris, 1805 The English country dance and the French contredanse, arriving independently in the American colonies, became the New England contra dance, which experienced a resurgence in the mid-20th century. The quadrille evolved into square dance in the United States while in Ireland it contributed to the development of modern Irish set dance. English country dance in Scotland developed its own flavour and became the separate Scottish country dance. English Ceilidh is a special case, being a convergence of English, Irish and Scottish forms.
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The fidola was the culmination of a research effort aimed at producing an instrument that is equally resonant over all five strings, in contrast to earlier five-string violins and violas, which tended to sound dull at either the low (C) or high (E) end. The instrument became popular among Scottish and Contra dance fiddlers through the 1990s, first in New England and then in northern California. A photograph of a fiddler in concert playing a five-string viola explicitly identified as a fidola appears in the scholarly journal Pragmatics, 11(2):155-192, June 2001.
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The performance barn at Greenwood Greenwood Music Camp is a summer camp in Cummington, Massachusetts whose primary focus is chamber music. Other activities include soccer, crackabout, softball, capture the flag, a treasure hunt, charades, talent show, hikes up Mount Greylock, visits to art museums, a contra dance and a visit to the Cummington Fair, as well as sports swimming, tennis or ping-pong. Greenwood was founded in 1933 by Dorothy "Bunny" Fay Little and Ruth Hill McGregor, and moved to its current location in 1940. The senior session (up to age 18) is five weeks in July, and the junior session (up to age 13) is two weeks in August.
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In some areas, notably Quebec and parts of the southern and southwestern United States, there is a strong tradition of playing "crooked" tunes — tunes in which at least one part has more or fewer beats than the norm. Because callers in those areas do not synchronize their calls with the phrases of the music, crooked tunes do not bother them. In regions where the callers and dancers are used to staying "on phrase" (as in a contra dance), crooked tunes are not used for square dancing. In the northeastern United States, traditional square dances are frequently done to popular songs in addition to, or instead of, jigs and reels.
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Bartlett met his future wife, Abby Ladin, in 1992 and moved to Bloomington, Indiana, to be with her. Ladin's percussive dance group, Rhythm In Shoes (RIS), absorbed Bartlett and he toured with RIS for the next 10 years. Bartlett resumed playing the national contra dance circuit in 1997 after forming the Reckless Ramblers (with Larry Unger, Nat Hewitt, Ginny Snowe, and later Mark Hellenberg) and also being an original member of the Sevens (with Mark Roberts, Sarah Blair, Stuart Kenney, and Mark Hellenberg). In 2005, Bartlett began playing with Notorious (Eden MacAdam-Somer, Larry Unger, and Mark Hellenberg) and continues to play with them to this day.
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Lovett and Ford initiated a dance program in Dearborn, Michigan that included several folk dances, including contras. Ford also published a book titled Good Morning: After a Sleep of Twenty-Five Years, Old-Fashioned Dancing Is Being Revived in 1926 detailing steps for some contra dances. In the 1930s and 1940s, the popularity of Jazz, Swing, and "Big Band" music caused contra dance to decline in several parts of the USA, and they were primarily held in towns within the Northeastern portions of North America, such as Ohio, the Maritime provinces of Canada,Lois S. Fahs, Swing Your Partner: Old Time Dances of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (Sackville, N.B.: The author, 1939). and particularly in New England.
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Since 2014, Bartlett has also been a member of the 5-piece Stringrays, with Rodney Miller, Max Newman, Mark Hellenberg, and Stuart Kenney. In addition to being a contra dance musician, Bartlett has maintained a dual identity as an old-time musician. He helped found the Monks shortly thereafter (with Frank Hall, Claudio Buchwald, and Abby Ladin.) The Monks released two critically acclaimed recordings, distributed widely by County Records: Let Us Play (1998), and Ragged But Righteous (2002). In 1999, Bartlett began playing with Illinois native fiddler Garry Harrison, and he was an integral member of the group that made the now legendary recording of original old-time music, Red Prairie Dawn (2000).
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Ester has a vibrant local music culture, and is the site of several annual music festivals: Angry Young & Poor (also known as AYP), a free all-day concert oriented toward area youth; the Fairbanks Summer Folk Fest, a 35-year old folk festival; the LiBerry Music Festival & Pie Throwdown, a fundraiser for the John Trigg Ester Library; and Ester Fest, a family-friendly musical fundraiser for the Ester Community Park which held its inaugural festival in 2017. An old time string band gathering, the Ester Jelly Jam, has an open jam occasionally on Sunday afternoons at Hartung Hall. A local group, the Lost Dog Old-Time String Band, hosts a monthly square/contra dance there. Impromptu music jams occur nightly on the saloon porches in the summer, and every Sunday in the winter.
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However, any 64-beat tune will do; for instance, three 8-beat parts could be played AABB AACC, or two 8-beat parts and one 16-beat part could be played AABB CC. Tunes not 64 beats long are called "crooked" and are almost never used for contra dancing, although a few crooked dances have been written as novelties. Contra tunes are played at a narrow range of tempos, between 108 and 132 bpm. In terms of instrumentation, fiddles are considered to be the primary melody instrument in contra dancing, though other stringed instruments can also be used, such as the mandolin or banjo, in addition to a few wind instruments, for example, the accordion. The piano, guitar, and double bass are frequently found in the rhythm section of a contra dance band.
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An old-time band might play a set of tunes in D, then use the time between dances to retune for a set of tunes in A. (Fiddlers also may take this opportunity to retune; tune- or key-specific fiddle tunings are uncommon in American Anglo-Celtic traditions other than old-time.) In the Celtic repertoires it is most common for bands to play sets of reels and sets of jigs. However, since the underlying beat structure of jigs and reels is the same (two "counts" per bar) bands will occasionally mix jigs and reels in a set. Some of the most popular contra dance bands in recent years are Great Bear, Perpetual E-Motion, Buddy System, Crowfoot, Elixir, the Mean Lids, Nor'easter, Nova, Pete's Posse, the Stringrays, the Syncopaths, and Wild Asparagus.
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Once music starts, the Caller will continue to talk on their microphone and describe each move until the dancers are comfortable with that dance pattern. The dance progression toward new people is built into the Contra Dance pattern as continuous motion with the music, and does not interrupt the dancing. While all dancers in the room are part of the same dance pattern, half of the couples in the room are moving toward the band/music at any moment and half are facing away from the music, so when everybody steps forward, they will find new people to dance with for the next 30-40 seconds. This effect is almost like having a checker board with red & black pieces evenly arranged across the whole board, and all red pieces gradually moving toward one side while all black pieces progressing toward the other side.
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Moving into a different genre altogether, Draheim joined "Hiss Golden Messenger", which has been described as "alternative country" and "country rock", to produce an album in 2009. An Arhoolie Records retrospective was released in 2013, including some of Draheim's earlier recordings with them, but Draheim's last new release was in 2011, a live recording with Southern country blues singer and guitarist Wayde BlairWayde Blair's albums include Short Term Memoirs, Kentucky Windage, Live at the Art House, Kentucky Lucky, and Swing with Western. at Berkeley's Art House. In her later years Draheim settled in Berea, Kentucky with her partner Wayde Blair, whom she had known and performed with in Berkeley, and quickly got involved in the music scene there, performing at Berea's Center for the Arts as well as with a small contra dance group known as "Sea Change" at Berea's Main Street Café.
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In the span of 10-15 minutes, you often dance with everybody in the entire set of dancers. (See the article on contra dance form for full characterizations of the progression in the eight dance forms mentioned above.) While this may sound complicated "in print" as shown above... In practice it's easier to "just do it", with the caller explaining things, and other dancers helping point the way, and the overall effect is that you enjoy dancing with one "set" of four people for 30 seconds, and then step forward and find "new people to play with" as you move across the room. A single dance runs around ten minutes, long enough to progress at least 15-20 times. If the sets are short to medium length the caller will often try to run the dance until each couple has danced with every other couple both as a 1 and a 2 and returned to where they started.
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Gender-free dances (a modern, less common variation) define the traditional "gents" and "ladies" roles in a gender-free way, originally by having half of the dancers (those dancing the gents' role) wear an armband, though this is changing. This is common practice in dances organized under the auspices of the Lavender Country and Folk Dancers and other "queer contra dances," which are primarily focused on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities but attract many dancers from the "straight" contra dance community as well. There is currently discussion about terms to use to indicate roles; 'bands' and 'bares/bare arms' replacing 'gents' and ladies' is common, but several others are in use, such as "Larks and Ravens", "Gems and Rubies", or any number of other determiners. The armbands that were once used to indicate role are worn less than was once true, allowing dancers to switch roles within a dance: "Dance with who's comin' at ya" is the principle.
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There are at least 60 craft stalls, 30+ food vendors and 4 delightfully themed bars with dedicated restaurant areas. For the 5 days of the festival, there is also an almost continuous Session in the world-famous "Session Bar", known as the 'London Underground' of folk music, that only stops briefly due to alcohol licence restrictions in the early morning and kicks off again in mid morning for another round the clock session of music and culture. International and Australian performers are featured, with the organisers firmly committed to representing the full spectrum of folk/ethnic/Indigenous music.'The National' The National Library and The National Folk Festival NLA News April 2003 Vol XIII No. 7 The festival has an exciting Opening and Closing Concert in the 3,000 seat Budawang Pavilion - and every night the festival has a grand dance, starting with a Scottish Ball on the Friday night, an Irish Ceili on the Saturday, and an Australian Colonial Ball on the Sunday night - as well as a colourful range of diverse dance styles including Latin, tango, flamenco and contra dance.
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