<div dir="ltr">An interesting question Colin. Certainly, as you suggest, modern contras, at least in the U.S., are done with a walking step and often a buzz step swing, with some occasional improve moves(clogging, clapping, dips, and other forms of flourishes). In our region, a contra dance evening would consist primarily longways dances for as many as will, with some communities including squares, triplets, triads, four facing fours, and the like, with others having a zero tolerance for anything other than longways duple minors and four facing fours. At least here, if the call says, "Line up for a contra." the default would be to line up longways, with the ones crossed over.In our community, if the caller wanted some other formation, it would have to be specified as something different than a contra - "Find a partner for a square" , "Form 3-couple sets", etc. It's all about era and location I think...Here is a reconstruction of a contra dance published in 1801....I would not recommend attempting to call this at a modern contra.... <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F8hLaGFdZ4">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F8hLaGFdZ4</a><br><div><img src="cid:ii_jiy4x6jp0_16444f5c1cffac8d" width="236" height="411"><br></div><div> Bob Green</div><div>St. Louis<br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 3:47 PM, Colin Hume via Callers <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:callers@lists.sharedweight.net" target="_blank">callers@lists.sharedweight.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">I'm in Germany, and I'm speaking for the next few days at a Conference run by the European Callers and Teachers Association. <br>
Several of my sessions are about Contras, and speaking to the Contra Coordinator as we drove to the hotel I realised we had very <br>
different ideas about what a contra is. I say it is an American (or American-style) dance, longways duple or triple. He classes <br>
three-couple dances (such as Ted's Triplets), four-couple dances and circles as contras. He even classes my dance "Sting in the <br>
Tail" as a contra. This is for two three-couple sets side-by-side and involves siding into line, set and turn single. I would <br>
regard this quite definitely as "Playford"-style, and I think Americans would categorise it as English. But what is a contra? I <br>
know the hot-shots would say that it's longways duple improper or Becket with a partner swing and preferably a neighbor swing, but <br>
is that your definition? What about an early American dance such as "The Young Widow" - is that a contra? Can a dance in waltz <br>
time be a contra? I think of a contra as mainly danced to reels or jigs, though I know there are a few to slip-jigs. Within <br>
reels I would include marches and American hornpipes, which are smooth, but not English hornpipes which I would dance to a <br>
step-hop. And not Strathspeys. I would say contras are done to a walking step, apart from the swing which is often a buzz step. <br>
But do you agree with me?<br>
<br>
Answers fairly quickly please!<br>
<br>
Colin Hume<br>
<br>
Email <a href="mailto:colin@colinhume.com">colin@colinhume.com</a> Web site <a href="http://colinhume.com" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://colinhume.com</a><br>
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