Every Thursday - Dances at our house
In recess till 30 May

An outlet for those who have caught the contra bug.
A means to support up and coming musicians.
Working with the Lyttelton TimeBank.
Details here.

Special Notices

• Bill and Liz will be spending 5 weeks in the US contra dancing. Bill is calling at the NEFFA Festival.
• 4 May dance will be run by upcoming callers Kathryn, Michael and Paul with a guest band under the direction of Roger.
• The June dance will be shifted to 8 June, the second Saturday, because of Queen's birthday.
• In 2014 late Jan and Feb there will be touring contra dancers from the US. Lots of special dances around the country. The second Hokitika contra dance weekend will be held 14-16 Feb.

Saturday Evening Contra Dances Addington School - Next dance 4 May 2013
Kathryn, Michael and Paul will call
FRAJHILE will play

The first Saturday of each month

Dance 7:30 to 10:30 pm (Learners Workshop 7 to 7:30)
Live Music!
No Experience Needed!
No Partners Needed!
All Dances Taught!
Easy and Lots of Fun!
Please bring a supper plate to share.
Only $5 (you can get in free by helping see below)

Muscos look at the contra videos, listen to the great music. Get some brackets ready for the next dances.
Musicians play for one dance and get in free!
Call a dance, get in free!

Here is a flyer.

More information or to request being on mailing list please contact Bill Baritompa.

Contra Dances So Far in 2013

Saturday 6 April - 50 dancers with music by Roger, Heather and George. Four callers! Paul, Michael and Kathryn each called one dance.

Saturday 2 March - A great turn out of 75 dancers with music by Roger, Heather and George. Four callers! Paul, Michael and Kathryn each called one dance. Watch video clips from the dance. They did a great job and are preparing to run the dance in May when Liz and I will be at NEFFA in the USA.

Saturday 2 February - First dance of the year. A fantastic turnout of over 100 dancers. Heather, Claire, Alice and George provided superb music. Alice has moved here from Wellington and was looking for an outlet for her musical talent, we hope she continues to play for the dances. We had a few dances called by our up and coming callers, Paul and Michael. They did a good job. Check out Flirtation Reel .

Friday 4 January in Rotorua - The evenings relaxation on 2013 Annual NZ Morris Tour in Rotorua was a contra dance. A great band made up of the musicians on tour. As well as 'normal' contra dances (done to morris tunes), we did a contra version of Black Joke.

Contra Dance in New Zealand

Besides Christchurch, there are clubs in Dunedin and Wellington, and dances now in Auckland. The inspiration came when Bill and Liz traveled with Ron and Cathy Arp's touring contra group from the USA in February 2008. Six dances in 10 days! Bill learned a lot and is keen to share the new dances with you.

A Short Description of Contra dancing (some videos here)

Check out the Chattahoochee Country Dancers web page for a detailed description and some instructional videos links.

The following is extracted from a web article: "What is Contra Dance?" by Gary Shapiro.

A caller, usually working with a group of live musicians, guides new and experienced alike through a variety of dances.

A dancer and his or her partner dance a series of figures, or moves, with each other and with another couple for a short time. They then repeat the same figures with another couple, and so on. The figures are similar to those in a barn dance. The figures are combined in different ways for each different dance.

The caller teaches each dance before it is actually done to the music. This gives everyone an idea of what to expect so the movements can be easily executed. The caller leads the dances while they are being done to music, so dancers are able to perform each movement to the music. Once the dancers appear to have mastered a particular dance, the caller may stop calling, leaving the dancers to enjoy the movement with music alone.