In the Appalachian tradition, dancing is a social event for people of all ages. Join us for contra, square and circle dances taught by experienced callers. Live bands play energetic traditional tunes. A fun-filled aerobic activity for people of all ages. Family friendly. Newcomers welcome. No experience or partner needed.
FOOTMAD
COMMUNITY DANCE
FOOTMAD COMMUNITY DANCE
Admission / Donation
$10
Children under 13 FREE
Celtic Calling and FOOTMAD
present a Community Ceilidh/Ceili
March 1 — 7 PM
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Bonny lassies and honest men
You are warmly invited to an evening of cantering and blustering, sweatiness and dizziness, confusion and collision.Expect Irishness on par with Oscar Wilde, the colliding/culloden ability of an Italian F1 Driver, and the fashion sense of Braveheart.
Dress code
BYOKilt
Wear your green
Prizes given for best dressed !In all seriousness !
In the Celtic tradition,
dancing is a social event for people of all ages.Join us for a Community Dance
Ceili (Irish),
Ceilidh (Scottish) or
Square Dance (American)A fun-filled aerobic activity for people of all ages.
Family friendly.
Newcomers welcome.
No experience or partner needed.
Soft Shoes required. -
Music: Cathy Grant and the St Albans Scottish Fiddle Orchestra
Dance Teacher: Sandra Utrata
Admission
$10 - Individual
$3 - student
$15 - Family
FREE - Under 13
FREE - VISTA volunteersDance takes place in Kanawha United Presbyterian
Gymnasium/Fellowship Hall.Entrance in rear of building, Red Door.
Parking is adjacent to church, accessible
from Virginia Street and Kanawha Blvd -
St Albans Scottish Fiddle Orchestra
The St. Albans Scottish Fiddle Orchestra is led by St. Albans music teacher Cathy Grant and includes students and community members who enjoy playing Scottish tunes.
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Sandra Utrata
Sandra Utrata of Columbus, Ohio is a dancer teacher with extensive experience teaching Scottish Ciehlie and Scottish Country Dances to dancers of all levels. She taught at The St. Andrew’s Ball, a traditional event in the Cleveland area started by Scottish immigrants, The Cleveland Scottish Country Dance Society, The Akon-Canton SASSY dance group, and the Heather & Thistle RSCDS Group. Sandra currently teaches the Columbus Scottish Country Dance Group which has been together for forty years. She and her husband also play music with the Scottish, English and Contra Dance bands “Mud In Yer Eye”, “Forward and Back”, “The Outlanders”, and “Sona”.
Kanawha United Presbyterian
DANCE FAQs
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It is an evening of fun, featuring dancing in "sets" - line sets of 6 or 8 couples or square sets of 4 couples..
You interact with your partner, and everyone else in the set too, as you dance with easy walking steps to energetic LIVE string band music.
A caller first explains the movements and then prompts you during the dance (as in square dancing).
Contra dance is descended from English Country dance and has been done in this country since before the revolution. In fact, George Washington was a contra dancer. Contra dance is similar to square dancing, but is done in long lines of couples (like the Virginia Reel) rather than in squares.
An evening might also feature square dances and couple dances (waltzes and polkas, for instance).
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You, the other dancers, the musicians, and the caller aim for an evening of low-pressure, yet often energetic, camaraderie.
Come alone or with others; we ask new partners for each of the dozen dances during the evening.
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Energy and Enthusiasm!
Wear cool, comfortable clothes.
To protect the floor, we ask dancers to wear clean, soft-soled shoes.
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You will be part of a living tradition passed on by the experienced dancers helping the newcomers.
It's best to join in the very first dance of the evening with an experienced partner (if possible).
Getting started by letting other dancers guide you is much more effective than watching.
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Contras, squares, mixers, waltzes, and more
Beginners are welcome
Singles are welcome. Attending with a partner is not required
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We know that these are difficult economic times and we will not deny anyone admission.
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Children under 13 are admitted free to all FOOTMAD events. It is our mission to pass on the joy of traditional music and dance, so children are especially welcome!
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Feel free to come in and try it out. You can always make a donation later if you choose.
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In these difficult times, it is more important than ever to remember what makes for a happy life. Naturally work and financial security are important. But the top influences are community, exercise, listening to music and doing things in a group. These are the top four predictors of contentment. Counterintuitively, perhaps, they are all found together in country dancing. It seems unimportant whether it is Scottish, Irish or English, line dancing or the polka, the effect of all that twirling with family and friends while responding to the music produces a sense of wellbeing hard to replicate in any other single activity.... those of us condemned to the miserylands of Britain know that, in a community hall near us, happiness awaits in the shape of friends and strangers, old and young, all ready to share in a common activity. It is quite pointless, except that we feel better afterwards. Read more ...
“A Brief Praise of … country dancing” - TheGuardian.com, 29 Jan 2009
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"If I'm ever in a coma, somebody announce "Hands Four" and start shuffling your feet. If that doesn't bring a smile to my face or get my toes tapping, then you know I'm beyond hope. "Hands Four" is the traditional call that begins every contra dance: an invitation to find a partner, join a long line of people and join hands with a neighboring couple. Small groups of four are formed all the way down the line and dancers eagerly wait for instructions. The caller announces a series of moves and the dancers walk through the dance a couple of times. When the dancers are comfortable with the sequence of moves, the band starts playing, the caller calls the figures and the dancers put it all into a fluid motion. What happens next is pure magic. For the next ten minutes, the dancers meet, separate, weave, reunite and swing. Experienced dancers will adjust to their partner or neighbor, dancing more simply with newer dancers and adding embellishments with experienced ones. At the end of it all, everyone thanks their partner, finds a new partner and lines up for another dance."
“Hands Four” by Greg Rhode
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I am on the Internet looking for information about contra dancing, trying to get some kind of a heads-up as to what it’s all about before I go to the Monday Night Contra Dance, hosted by the Louisville Country Dancers at the Church of the Advent on Baxter Avenue in the Highlands. A friend has invited me, and she tells me that I do not have to worry so much about the “dancing” part — that contra dancing is easy, that I won’t be embarrassed, that anyone can do it. She tells me all the things people have told me every single time before I make a spectacle of myself in every social dance situation.
“Contra Addiction” - Louisville Magazine., 10 JUN 2014
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Contra dancing has been around since the 1700s. If you don't know it — it's kind of like square dancing but with long lines of dancers. The dance is having a renaissance around the country thanks to a thriving youth scene. … contra dancing. It's sort of like square dancing, but with long lines of dancers. The music is high energy, and there's a caller giving instructions.
YOUTH FLOCK TO CONTRA DANCING
by MARIKA PARTRIDGE
NPR - All Things Considered
02 July 02 2010
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What is contra dance
NCUS Student Club -- Contra Dances With Wolves sponsors dances on the NCSU Campus. CDWW has produced an outstanding set of videos ... "Why I dance", "What is contra dance?" and more ...
contradanceswithwolves.org
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See it on YouTube
Some really nice dance videos
Fun to watch!
Great music! -
How To
Chattahoochee Country Dancers, in Atlanta, Ga, created a series of videos for new dancers. All videos are available on YouTube. Visit CCD website at www.contradance.org for excellent information for beginning dancers.
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Health Benefits of Dance
Dancing is good (and healthy) for you!. Who knew? Here are 12 Health benefits of square dancing - mental and physical exercise
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Contra dancing is social interaction, meeting people, and making new friends, set to music. The rest is just details. Otherwise, the only real answer to the question "What is contra dance?" comes when you try it.
"What is contra dance" - Gary Shapiro’s web page
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Contra dancing is a popular form of recreation enjoyed by people of all ages in over 200 cities and towns across the United States (as of 2020), yet it also has a long history that includes European origins, and over 100 years of cultural influences from many different sources. ...
“Contra Dance” - Wikipedia
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First and foremost, both contra and English dancing are enormously fun! No description in words can convey the sense of joy, unity and excitement that a community dance can offer. You just have to come a few times to find out for yourself. Despite similar sounding names, contra dancing is not the same as country line dancing. Contra dancing is a more closely related to its cousins, square dancing and English country dancing, which have many similar figures and movements. ...
“About Contra Dancing and English Country Dancing” - Syracuse Country Dancers web page.
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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. ...
“A Contra Dance Primer” - Les Francey and Farrell Boyce, Hamilton Contra Dances
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Contra is a communal-style folk dance that is fun and easy to learn. No partner or experience is necessary. A caller leads the dancers through a series of moves and the sequence repeats itself. There's no real footwork - it's more like walking to music. An evening consists of 10-12 dances, each with a different combination of a few simple moves. You can enjoy dancing in a friendly, fun, wholesome. ...
“What is Contra Dance” - Childgrove Country Dances web page