Seth Tepfer at http://dancerhapsody.com/
Welcome to the Contra Dance Database site!
What is Contra?
Contra dancing is a traditional American dance form dating from Colonial times. Contra is danced to live music, and the group is guided through each dance by a caller. Contra dances are fun social events for the whole community—young and young-at-heart, experienced or brand-new, everyone has fun!
The Caller
The caller guides dancers through the steps for each dance. They design the program for the dance, teach the basics of Contra, teach each dance sequence before the music starts, and then helps dancers through each dance as they deem necessary.
Who is this site for?
Although anyone interested in Contra dancing can benefit from the information provided in this site, it is mostly dedicated to help callers by providing a centralized source of Contra dances and a few tools to make planning an event easier.
Why a Database?
I recently began calling at Contra dances. Several folks gave me dances that I could use to learn and call at upcoming events. And then I started looking for more and found a plethora of sources for dances! But none of them were congruent or consistent. So I set out to create a central location for all this information. I hope that what has helped me will be of help to others.
Disclaimers
Please contact me at vgascon.nospam at gmail.com (make sure to remove the "nospam" part).
What is Contra?
Contra dancing is a traditional American dance form dating from Colonial times. Contra is danced to live music, and the group is guided through each dance by a caller. Contra dances are fun social events for the whole community—young and young-at-heart, experienced or brand-new, everyone has fun!
The Caller
The caller guides dancers through the steps for each dance. They design the program for the dance, teach the basics of Contra, teach each dance sequence before the music starts, and then helps dancers through each dance as they deem necessary.
Who is this site for?
Although anyone interested in Contra dancing can benefit from the information provided in this site, it is mostly dedicated to help callers by providing a centralized source of Contra dances and a few tools to make planning an event easier.
Why a Database?
I recently began calling at Contra dances. Several folks gave me dances that I could use to learn and call at upcoming events. And then I started looking for more and found a plethora of sources for dances! But none of them were congruent or consistent. So I set out to create a central location for all this information. I hope that what has helped me will be of help to others.
Disclaimers
- The current database is not complete and probably never will; new dances are written regularly and I hope they will be added to this database as they become available.
- The dances included in the database were freely found on the Internet. However, I acknowledge that they are the intellectual property of their creators and they may request that such be removed from the database. I hope that this will not be the case and that the authors will extend previous copyright permission for their work. Dance authors have been given credit for their work. We are all grateful for their contribution to this wonderful dance form! If you are an author or publisher and would like to contact me for any copyright issues, please see the information listed below.
Please contact me at vgascon.nospam at gmail.com (make sure to remove the "nospam" part).
