Pairs of dancers, joining hands, listen for the Caller’s call. The music swells and the room spins as smiling faces pass by, reaching out to meet the next duo as the pace picks up, faster and faster until the dance is done with a laugh and a whoop. Contra dancing in New England is a time honored tradition carried forward by stalwart organizers like Steve Howland and his bandmates.
These events have long helped to strengthen community bonds and offer a social activity for folks of all ages. If you live in Cummington, or find yourself close enough for a little drive, you’ll be able to experience the phenomenon first-hand on Saturday March 29th at the Cummington Community House.
A Contra dance is a social folk dance where dancers pair off into Leaders and Followers, referred to in these events as Larks and Robins. These pairs form long lines called Sets. A dance may only have one Set or break into multiple Lines, depending on the number of dancers and space available.
You don’t need to arrive with a partner, nor do you need to have any experience to participate, especially in a Community Dance. The caller teaches each dance with a walk through at the beginning. Once you’ve successfully walked through the pattern, the music kicks off, the dance gets into full swing, and that’s when the magic begins. Fear not: mistakes are opportunities for everyone to laugh, and people are happy to point you in the right direction when needed.
Contra dancing can be traced as far back as the 17th and 18th century. Many folks cite the Recueil de Contredanses, a French dance book published in 1708, as the codification of the format for Contra dancing. While the format originates in the fancy ballroom dances of the French and English Courts, it didn’t take long for the events to be adapted and adopted by the surrounding towns and villages. As small villages and towns were established in a young and expanding America, the town Contra dance would often be the highlight of social activities.
In an age with limited home entertainment options, the Contra dance created a space to gather with your neighbors, to flirt with peers or meet new friends, to catch up on the local gossip, and to listen to some good music. As courts overseas moved on to other more formal dance styles, American Contra became increasingly more democratic by incorporating Irish and Scottish fiddling. From generation to generation, the style has grown and evolved. Far from its origin in those stately courts of yore, the Contra dance of today finds influence in Irish, Scottish, Cajun, Quebecois, and Appalachian music and fiddle styles.
Steve Howland (Pictured) has been a dancer and musician in the scene since the 80’s. He first established himself as a dance caller in the 90’s and now has over 40 years of experience in playing and calling for both the Community Contra dance and its more advanced cousin, the “Hot” Contra. And while it’s great fun to call for highly skilled dancers, recent years have found him more interested in promoting the more casual, good-time gatherings of community dances. The positivity of a community gathering where all are welcome to play, dance, or just watch is more important than ever.
Curious to see and experience for himself how Contra dancing has evolved in other communities around America, Howland embarked with his son on a cross country adventure back in the first decade of this new century. Driving together from state to state, they stopped wherever they could find dances. Every single Contra community welcomed them with open arms. The dances were the same, the music was just as moving, and the communities were interconnected.
Often folks said they had danced in Greenfield or Brattleboro, spots where some well-known circles have long persisted, and would share familiar stories. In the Contra scene locally, and at large, there is a community of regulars who play music and dance. Howland has cultivated lifelong friendships with many musicians and dancers. He even met the person who would become his lifelong partner while dancing in Greenfield in 1996.
When Contra really began its cultural resurgence in the 1960’s, it found good company in the back-to-the-land movements gaining prominence at the same time. In places like Nelson, New Hampshire you could find old New England farmers dancing in the town hall with new arrivals escaping the stress of city living.
Contra Dancing has grown to often eschewed gender-specific roles and it was not uncommon to find male members of this new rural counterculture decked out in long skirts that both facilitated a freedom of movement and perhaps made a gentle point about gender rigidity. Mothers and children, old friends, laughing teens, or just about anyone has come to fill dance roles as needed. Today, the gender roles have even been dropped in the dance calls and so instead of Gentleman and Ladies, the dance roles are taught as Larks and Robins.
The resurgence of Contra dancing carried on and on but slowed a bit in the 2000’s as modern youth became distracted with more distant forms of socialization. The social isolation of COVID seemed apocalyptic to the dance community, but five years later Contra dancing has made a big comeback with the strong reminder of how much we need to be connected with our social groups in person.
If you’d like to try a dance, or just meet your neighbors, there is a great opportunity coming to Cummington on March 29th. Howland and his band will be hosting a Community Contra dance at the Cummington Community Center from 7pm – 9pm and welcomes all folks of all ages and abilities. Come early if you’d like an introduction.
This program is supported in part by grants from the Goshen and Worthington Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency & Dancing Fiddle Farm Productions