What is Contra Dancing?

Contra Dance got its start as an offshoot of English country dancing in the Massachussets colony. English dance of the day took the form of: Triplets (a dance for 3 couples), Rounds (a dance for 4 couples in a circle), and Longways set  for as many as will. The latter was at its height of popularity in the 1700's when the beginnings of Contra Dance were invented. Basically, a longways set is divided into couples who stand across from their partner as part of a long line. Originally, there were two lines- one for men, and one for women- a "proper" set. Sometime ago, somebody decided that it would be more interesting to have the sexes actually mix with one another, so they had every other couple switch places with their partner. Now you have two lines with alternating genders with your partner still across from one another. Somewhere along the way, the "duple" formation became the most prevalent: the couples were grouped as pairs, or four individuals. The dance music repeats itself many times, and for each repeat of the dance, the pairs of couples dance together, and somehow, almost magically, they trade places as couples and end up facing new couples. The advantage of this system is that you get to dance with almost every other couple in your longways line. Another, secondary advantage is that this dance formation uses much less floor space than the round or square dances-a big issue at the time, especially in the rural areas. Every region of the colonies had their own repertoire of dances that everybody who danced knew by heart. There would be some sort of schedule posted, the band would play music specifically composed for the dance, and the dancers would simply join in.

In modern times, some of the old traditional dances are still done, such as Hull's Victory, Chorus Jig, Rory O'Moore, and The Haymaker's Jig, but there are ALOT of new dances; most of which have been written in the last 25 years or so. There are literally tens of thousands of dances out there. In the 1800's, during the original square dance movement, dancers decided that it was easier to have a person who knew a large number of dances yell out timely clues as to what the dancers should be doing. Calling was born. I'm guessing that the original calls to dances were simple names of moves called out in time to the music. Eventually, somebody decided that it would be more interesting if the caller started stringing some extra words together between the actual calls. It reminds me of rapping. This is called patter calling. Later still (perhaps as late as the 20th century), songs with a few calls interspersed in the lines were composed, so that the caller could almost fully merge with the music. Depending on the region, three distinct styles of calling were formed. Some, especially in New England, stayed with the simple "prompt" calls. In most southern regions of the United States, patter calling has been adopted. Singing square dances were a national phenomenon by the mid-20th century, and are still done today, although in increasingly smaller numbers as subsequent generations became disenchanted with the style. Modern contra dance has almost universally taken the prompt style of calling, favoring the idea that the caller should only say as little as necessary, if anything, to keep the dancers going. Almost all dances are "walked-through" or taught slowly once or twice to give the dancers an idea of what to expect. Then, the music starts, the caller calls for the first third of the dance. By the middle of the dance, most of the dancers have the idea, and the caller may call only one or two moves, if at all.