Contra Dance 01/17/2010
 
Dragonfly Dance is currently developing a new work that will be called “Like a Peach”.  This work is inspired by a solo performed by our director Megan Morse Jans, when she was pregnant with her son, Jacob.  The inspiration for the work is a combination of her experience with pregnancy and a new child in addition to tribute strong Southern women that inspire us and make us laugh.  This piece will be performed at the Rhapsody on Sunday, February 21st.

While working on the new piece, our director has been exploring all sorts of inspiration to bring together a beautiful work.  In a recent rehearsal we had the opportunity to work with Kim Forry who dances with The Annapolis Traditional Dance Society and is a caller for Contra Dance events held monthly.  Kim helped us to work on floor patterns and Contra Dance movements that lend itself to the Southern inspiration of the piece. 

Contra Dance has a very long history and is defined as a folk dance in which couples dance in two facing lines of indefinite length. Contra dances can be found around the world, though they are especially popular in North America.
Picture
Photo from Almost Heaven Dance Weekend
Wikepedia Definition of Contra Dance Events:

Contra dance events are open to all, regardless of experience. They are family-friendly, and alcohol consumption is not part of the culture. Many events offer beginner-level instructions for up to half an hour before the dance. A typical evening of contra dance is three hours long, including an intermission. The event consists of a number of individual contra dances, divided by a scattering of other partner dances, perhaps one or more waltzes, schottisches, polkas, or Swedish hambos. In some places, square dances are thrown into the mix. Music for the evening is typically performed by a live band, playing jigs and reels from Ireland, Scotland, Canada, or the USA. The tunes are traditional and more than a century old, or modern compositions which follow the same form as the traditional pieces.

For one of the movements of “Like a Peach” a quartet of dancers will be weaving and working in Contra dance patterns while incorporating modern movements.  We learned the terminology that is used when “calling” contra dances such as DoSaDo, Hay (in the barn) and Round Robin.  Kim taught us the difference between our partner and our neighbor and also taught us partnering and weaving techniques.  It was a lot of fun to explore this new (to us) form of dance and we are very excited to continue to develop this work.

If you are interested in attending a Contra Dance in the Annapolis area, The Annapolis Traditional Dance Society holds Contra Dance events the third Saturday of every month.  They are open to the public and have a free beginner’s workshop at 6:30pm prior to the dance.  For more information, please visit their website.  http://www.contradancers.com/atds/
 


Comments

Amy Ksir
01/22/2010 16:31

How exciting! I love the photos on your website and hope that I can get to the event on the 21st.

Reply
Megan Morse Jans
01/24/2010 14:25

Thank you very much! We look forward to seeing you there.

Reply
Jan Scopel
01/24/2010 21:41

What a wonderfully creative and FUN website and projects you have! Its a great idea to do an outreach collaboration with the Annapolis High dance company.
Thank you so much for including a link to our Annapolis contra dance group! We too are excited about providing people a chance to dance as an expression of themselves and as part of a larger community of motion meisters!

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