Contra Dance

Contra Dancing is a form of American folk dance in which the dancers form a set of two parallel lines which run the length of the hall. Each dance consists of a sequence of moves that ends with couples having progressed one position up or down the set. As the sequence is repeated, a couple will eventually dance with every other couple in the set. Contra Dancing was all the rage in 1800.

As in all dance traditions, many of the defining traits of the contra style are products of functions more than form. Contra dance is a descendent of British, French and Irish country daning, done in sets of partners, like square or set dancing. Rather than lining up side by side, partners begin the dance facing each other, or contra to one another, from which the dance gets it's name. Every eight bars, a dance move, or figure, is completed and another begun, necessitating that the lead melodic musician, usually a fiddler, punctuates the change of figures.