CONTRA DANCE IS NEW ENGLAND-STYLE FOLK DANCE.
You dance with a partner in a set of other couples. Each dance’s figures are taught, and then verbally prompted - or "called" - to live music. It is easy for beginners, and satisfying for experienced dancers.
IT IS SO MUCH FUN!
Celia Ramsay has been calling Contra dances since 2002, but has been telling people what to do for much, much longer. Celia chooses dances that fit the people in the room, uses clarity and brevity in teaching, and has a warm personality that makes the dancers happy. She also calls family friendly dances for any event, as well as ceilidhs (say “kay-lees”; think of casual Scottish dance party)!
Regarding Calling Terminology
Celia uses “Positional” terminology when calling dances. This avoids ladies and gents, or larks and robins terminology, which can be confusing when there’s no gender balance or there are new dancers. Instead, during the walk-through for any dance, she calls attention to where dancers are standing at a given moment and uses that point of reference. For example, after a neighbor balance and swing, the dancers end facing across. If the next figure is a chain, Celia directs the folks on the right side of their neighbor to chain to the person diagonally opposite them. She’ll then call it a "right-side chain" (instead of ladies’ or robins’ chain), or just "chain" once the dance is underway, and because the dance was taught at least twice, most dancers have the muscle memory of who that is. An added advantage is that it's easier to understand what to do if you switch roles.
DO YOU WANT TO HOST A DANCE?
Book Celia to call a dance for you! These simple dances are suitable for all ages, and can be fun for fundraising events, school events, weddings or celebrations of any kind.
If you are considering a dance for your special event, please talk to Celia first, because she has valuable experience about how to make your dance a success; if she’s unavailable, she has other callers to recommend, and she'll find the right band, and make recommendations on sound and location needs.
Celia says, “I realized I was already using this form whenever I called for a family dance or barn dance because those groups are quite mixed age-wise and usually have no or little experience dancing. If I use Larks and Robins at those dances, people constantly ask, ‘Wait—am I a Lark or a Robin?’ It's an additional mental step to think, ‘Robin begins with R, so I'm on the right.’ Why not simply teach, ‘right side folks, chain...’.”