One thing is for sure. Contra dancing has nothing to do with Nicaragua!

Contra dancing developed from English country dancing and was brought to the American colonies by 18th century settlers. The Virginia Reel is an early example. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were avid contra dancers.

Occasionally, we dance “old chestnuts” from the 18th or 19th century, but most of the dances are modern. In fact, new tunes and dances are written every day.

Tacoma Contra Dance at Wells Hall

We dance to live music. The bands may include fiddles, flute, guitar, piano, and bass. Occasionally you can hear drums, saxophone, or trombone.

A caller leads a “walk through” before the music starts and then prompts the dancers while the music is playing. The dance moves are nothing fancy, just simple walking steps in time to the music. Here is how it goes:

• The dancers usually start off in long lines across from your partner.
• You do a series of moves with your partner and a neighboring couple, then move on to the next couple and repeat the moves.
• By the end, you’ve danced with everyone in the line and have had a wonderful experience!

Dancers usually find new partners for each dance, so you can dance whether you came alone or as a couple.

Contra dancing has been popular in the Pacific Northwest since the 1970s. Warren Argo – musician, caller, and sound man extraordinaire – has a personal history that spans the life of contra dancing in the Northwest. He wrote a wonderful article for Victory Review, May 2002. The article is reprinted here by permission.

Since the 1970s, contra dancing has grown into a widespread American sub-culture. On December 31, 2004, we held a New Year’s Eve dance in Tacoma. I was amazed to discover (from a casual search of the Internet) that contra dances were held that day in almost 50 other American cities. Now that is a real sub-culture!

If you have read this far, you may be interested in good descriptions of contra dancing on other web sites.

• First, and shortest, is a description of contra dancing from Hamilton, Ontario.
• Second, and most thoughtful, are the descriptions by Gary Shapiro of San Bernardino, California.
• Third, and most elegant, is the work of Greg Rohde of St. Louis, Missouri.
• Fourth, for those who are more visually oriented, there are links to a couple video excerpts of past contra dances in progress at other locations in the U.S.A. scattered around this page. Click on them to play them(make sure that you have your flash blocker turned off).

If you still don’t quite understand what contra dancing is, well, the only solution is to experience it yourself. See you on the dance floor!

Matt Temmel
Tacoma, Washington
January 12, 2005