February 17-19 2012 - Hokitika Contra Weekend

Ron and Cathy Arps are returning with a contra tour group. These enthusiastic contra dancers and musicians from the USA will converge on Hokitika and run a special weekend. Two evening contra dances with local NZ musicians and the tour group musicians, workshops on dance and music. Onsite accomodation available at Seaview. Details here.

Saturday Evening Contra Dances Addington School - next dance 4 February
This will be special with visiting musicians, callers and dancers from the USA!

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.

Special Dances in February

The contra dance tour from the USA will be running contra dances as they travel around the country. If you are traveling around the country you may want to be a contra groupie and catch some of their dances.

4 Feb Christchurch 7:00 - 10:30 Addington School,
5 Feb Woodbury 11:00-13:00 Woodbury Hall just outside of Geraldine,
7 Feb Mt Cook 20:00-23:00,
9 Feb Milford (on the Milford wanderer),
11 & 13 Feb (Dunedin),
15 Feb Wanaka 19:30-22:30 Upper Clutha Presbyterian Church Hall,
17-19 Feb Hokitika Contra Weekend Dances and workshops Seaview Hall,
19 Feb Motueka 7:30 Riverside Centre just outside Motueka
22 Feb Wellington 7:30 St Michael's Church Hall in Kelburn

Contra Dances So Far in 2012

Saturday 7 January - Twenty people came to our house for a contra potluck picnic. The weather was great, no aftershocks, and the llamas enjoyed the visitors. Liz's brother and sister-in-law got a chance to see what we enjoy doing, and joined in the dancing. Roger and George formed a great duo to play for a few of the dances. As well as eating and talking we did these dances: Jefferson Heritage, Here Comes the Muffin Man, Chorus Jig, The Nice Combination and Heartbeat Contra.

Contra Dance in New Zealand

There are clubs in Dunedin and Wellington, and dances now in Christchurch. 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.

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.