In the UK we always used to dance 7 times through. To fit a gramophone record. Now we seem to have imported longer contra’s from the US. Maybe 9 times if using CDs. Maybe longer with live music. I find long Contras tiring and lose concentration (start dancing the previous dance). Since modern contras are less uneven it doesn’t matter if you only get a turn or two as 1s

From: Katherine Kitching via Contra Callers
Sent: 05 September 2024 13:43
To: John Sweeney; Shared Weight Contra Callers
Subject: [Callers] Re: Resources to turn musicians into dance musicians? - length of a typical dance?

Hi John (and everyone), just catching up on the listserv and went to your "Callers and Music" page--

very helpful info there!
I wish I had found it last year when I was looking for resources for this caller-and-musician workshop that we did.

In particular, I had searched all over the internet last year for some clue as to how many times through a typical improper duple contra dance would run, and had a real hard time finding that info.

I had concluded that with 5 duples in a set (our usual), we might dance through up to 17 times, which would take about 9 minutes at 117bpm..... so that those who started at the top would get back to the top.

Do you think that's too long?

I was under the impression that in the US the lines are often longer than 5 duples, and that the convention was to dance long enough to let everyone travel up and down the line the whole way....so I was thinking that in a seasoned contra dance group the dance might go on 15 minutes or more?

Very curious about this now!

Kat Kitching in Halifax NS

Sep 4, 2024 3:16:24 PM John Sweeney via Contra Callers <contracallers@lists.sharedweight.net>:

Hi Seth,

              Linda Game (English Contra Dance Band) ran a session for the Irish musicians who were going to play for the first contra dance that we ran in Paris.  I have put a copy of her notes at https://contrafusion.co.uk/documents/LindaGameMusicianWorkshop.jpg - I hope Linda won’t mind.

              One interesting exercise that she did was to get four dancers to do some Rory O’Mores to a Reel, then the same sequence to a Jig so that the band could see the effect on the dancers.

              This is meant for callers: https://contrafusion.co.uk/CallersandMusic.html but you might find some useful points there.

              I have danced (ceilidh, but same challenge) to a band who seemed to think that they were playing for a concert.  They put in extra beats and ran improvisations across  the phrases.  They went so wild that you couldn’t hear the phrasing.  It was fantastic to listen to, but a nightmare to try to dance to!

              It is crucial that the band understand that the dancers are listening to the beat and the phrasing.  They especially want to hear the beginning of A1 and B1 clearly and unambiguously.

              Good luck!

            Happy dancing,

                   John                      

John Sweeney, Dancer, England   john@modernjive.com 01233 625 362 & 07802 940 574

http://www.contrafusion.co.uk for Dancing in Kent