Contra Dance

Contra Dance is a form of folk dancing in which couples are arranged in long lines facing each other, performing a sequence of figures called by a caller to live music. It is one of the oldest continuously practiced social dance traditions in North America, with roots in the English country dances that colonists brought to New England in the 17th century. The name 'contra' is an Americanization of 'country' — these were the country dances of the English countryside, adapted to the New World.

The dance experienced a significant revival beginning in the 1970s, driven by the folk music revival and a growing interest in participatory community arts. Today, contra dance events — called 'contras' — are held in community centers, grange halls, and dance studios across the United States and Canada, attracting a diverse community of dancers ranging from teenagers to octogenarians. The dance is notable for its accessibility: beginners can participate in their first evening with minimal instruction, and the caller guides the dancers through each figure in real time.

The music for contra dance is played live by a band — typically a fiddle, a guitar or banjo, a bass, and sometimes a piano or keyboard — and the caller works in partnership with the band to create a seamless experience. The relationship between the caller, the band, and the dancers is one of the most distinctive features of contra dance culture, and it creates a communal energy that is difficult to replicate in other dance forms.

Contra dance music is typically played at 116 to 132 BPM, with most dances falling in the 120 to 128 BPM range. The music is structured in 32-bar phrases — eight measures of four beats each — and the caller times the figures to fit within these phrases. The predictable phrase structure is one of the features that makes contra dance accessible to beginners: once you understand that each figure takes a certain number of beats, you can anticipate the transitions and move with the music rather than reacting to it.

The most common musical forms for contra dance are reels (in 2/4 or 4/4 time) and jigs (in 6/8 time), drawn from the Irish, Scottish, and New England fiddle traditions. The fiddle is the central instrument, and the best contra dance bands have a fiddler who can play with both rhythmic drive and melodic expressiveness. The guitar or banjo provides the harmonic and rhythmic foundation, and the bass anchors the low end.

Contemporary contra dance music has expanded beyond the traditional fiddle tune repertoire to include original compositions, tunes from other folk traditions (Scandinavian, Quebecois, Appalachian), and even occasional adaptations of popular songs. The key requirement is that the music have a clear, driving pulse at the right tempo and a 32-bar phrase structure that the caller can work with.

Contra dance is fundamentally a community activity, and the music is inseparable from the social context in which it is played. The live band, the caller, and the dancers create a feedback loop of energy and responsiveness that is one of the most distinctive features of the tradition. When a dance is going well — when the band is playing with drive and expression, the caller is timing the figures perfectly, and the dancers are moving with the music — the result is a collective experience of joy and connection that is genuinely transcendent.

The contra dance community has developed a strong culture of musical appreciation, and dancers often know the names of the tunes being played and have opinions about which versions they prefer. Bands like Perpetual e-Motion, Nightingale, and Buddy System have developed devoted followings within the community, and their recordings are widely used for practice and teaching.

For teachers and event organizers, the choice of band and caller is as important as the choice of venue. A skilled caller can make a difficult dance accessible; a skilled band can make even a simple dance feel magical. The investment in live music — rather than recorded music — is one of the defining commitments of the contra dance community, and it is one of the reasons the tradition has remained vital and growing for more than fifty years.

A contra dance practice playlist should be anchored by the traditional New England fiddle tunes that define the form's musical identity — reels, jigs, hornpipes, and marches in the AABB phrase structure that the contra dance figures are built around. The best contra dance music has a quality of forward momentum and rhythmic clarity that makes the figures feel natural and inevitable, and it has enough melodic interest to sustain the dancers' engagement through a full evening of dancing. Classic recordings by Rodney Miller, Fennig's All-Star String Band, and the Clayfoot Strutters provide an excellent introduction to the traditional repertoire.

As your contra dance experience grows, expand your playlist to include the broader world of traditional dance music — Irish reels and jigs, Scottish strathspeys, and the old-time American fiddle tradition. These musical traditions share the contra dance's essential qualities of rhythmic drive and melodic clarity, and they provide an excellent bridge between the New England tradition and the broader world of folk and traditional dance music. The best contra dance callers and musicians are those who can draw from all of these traditions, creating a musical experience that is both rooted in tradition and open to the full range of the folk music world.

For live contra dance events, the music is typically provided by a live band and a caller who work together to create a musical experience that supports the dancers. The band's role is to provide a clear, driving pulse and a melodic line that helps the dancers hear the phrase structure; the caller's role is to call the figures in time with the music and to guide the dancers through the sequence. The best contra dance events are those where the band, the caller, and the dancers are all listening to each other and responding to the musical moment.