Re: [Callers] Some Questions on Some Contras

Hi Rickey and others, I use Sherry's Family Contra often in settings with lots of kids and/or adults with little contra experience. It is a legitimate, bona fide contra dance, and for that audience is probably the most failsafe contra I have in my repertoire. Indeed, I taught it just this week for a class of 8 & 9 year olds at a dance camp, a class that included several kids who were not enthusiastic dancers. They all did just fine. Barb Kirchner posted the dance a year ago on the trad-dance-callers list: Family Contra (Sherry Nevins) A1 Balance ring 2x, circle left 1x ("Go IN... and OUT... and IN... and OUT) A2 Balance ring 2x, circle right 1x B1 DSD with neighbor, DSD with partner B2 DSD 1.5 as a couple This isn't a dance to call for the hard charging aerobic contra crowd-- as you can see, there's no swings in it (gasp!) and yes, Rickey, you're right, they'll plow right through that final figure and would want to do something more. But in its family setting, it can indeed take kids and their parents a full 16 counts to negotiate the figure. David Millstone