I wrote a guideline for putting on techno contras a while back (see link below) and included some additional terms which are sometimes heard when talking about non-traditional contra dance music.
There are two main components that I think distinguish “techno” and other non-traditional music contra dances from the more traditional:
  1. music that includes one or more of the following: looping, beat mixes, sampling, remixing, unusual instrumentation, non-32-bar music, the use of non-traditional music or musical references, particularly in terms of samples
  2. lowered lights and "club" or “theatrical" style lighting.
In my experience, what is considered "techno" or "crossover" music runs the gamut from music that is entirely live with extensive use of electronics to modify and loop the music, to fully pre-recorded music tracks, sometimes traditional fiddle music, other times Top 40 remixes. Some DJs do some remixing on the spot). In between those two extremes are groups like Buddy System (Julie Vallimont of Nor'easter and Noah VanNorstrand), Firecloud (another Julie Vallimont group), Contra Force, and Phase X (Christopher Jacoby's group) which use pre-mixed samples, beats loops but then play live instruments such as keyboard, fiddle and guitar on top of that.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/will-loving/how-to-put-on-techno-contra-dances-my-experience-over-multiple-years-and-events-/10151541411764182/

With regard to the terms you’ve listed. I can’t say I’ve ever heard “iPod dance” and it’s probably on it’s way out due to iPods and other standalone music players also being replaced by phones, iPads and other tablets. The best example of an "Alternative Music Dance” would, I think, be Lisa Greenleaf’s “Alternative Music Contra” dances. She has premixed music from a number of sources including jazz, pop, rock, etc. and then recorded her calls over the music. She teaches the dances, starts the music, and often jumps in to dance once things are going well.

Will


On Jan 20, 2020, at 9:42 AM, Bob Peterson via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

I’m always on the lookout for terms that describe the style of using non-traditional and often non-live music. So far I’ve seen or used:
  • iPod dance
  • Alternative music dance
  • Fusion contra
  • Techno contra
  • DJ’d contra

Q: What other terms have people seen? 

Q: What do the terms mean to you? For instance here is what I understand:
  • iPod dance - pre-mixed music, genre unspecified
  • Alternative music dance - ditto iPod dance, but livelier
  • Fusion contra - ?
  • Techno contra - live performance electronic, beat-heavy music
  • DJ’d contra - caller and DJ are not the same person?

I’d like to focus this thread on terminology, not what’s bad (or good) about the non-traditional styles. It would be great to have other threads discuss values and preferences, if someone wants to tackle framing that conversation.

I like to mix and call contras to recorded music, so this is really a marketing-related topic for me. Currently I’m using “alternative music contra dance”.

\Bob Peterson

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