blogs about contra dancing?
January 21, 2013 9:55 AM   Subscribe

Could the hive mind recommend blogs or other writing about contra dance? I'm especially interested in discussions of technique, etiquette/custom/tradition, and calling. I've previously enjoyed Jeff Kaufman's blog and The Contra Syncretist.
posted by d. z. wang to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: The CDSS blog has occasional fascinating historical pieces.

If you haven't seen Mary McNabb Dart's Contra Dance Choreography: A Reflection Of Social Change, that's probably a good resource. If you haven't read John Bealle's Old-time Music And Dance: Community And Folk Revival, that's a great starting point too (if you're in the Boston area you can borrow my copy, which everybody seems to do eventually).

Not blogs, but the Shared Weight mailing lists for callers, organizers, and musicians are great (the callers list has the most traffic).

Also not blogs, but various discussion groups on Facebook have the same discussions that were going on on rec.folk-dancing twenty years ago (gender roles and balance, can you refuse a dance and then dance with someone else, what to do about perpetual beginners, being welcome to newcomers but challenging to experienced dancers, etc): Contra Dancers, Stuff Contra Dancers Say; lots of individual callers also have public Facebook pages where similar discussions occasionally take place.
posted by nonane at 10:23 AM on January 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


My friend did a term as a fellow at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. I was very tickled by the costumes of the contra dancers that would appear in the school's blog from time to time. By the way, she said the school is wonderful and encourages folks to visit. She is a caller and honed her skills there.
posted by dottiechang at 12:51 PM on January 21, 2013


I don't have any blogs to offer, but your two links go right back to this page. Might want to ask the mods to correct that.
posted by jvilter at 7:47 PM on January 21, 2013


d.z. wang, check out this post I just did the other day about the back issues of Northern Junket being digitized. They're fun reading. I found this thread because nonane mentioned it in that thread!
posted by Miko at 7:12 AM on March 4, 2013


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