Hi all,
Here in Philly we're restarting our
Teen
Barn Dance, which had a great four-year run before the
pandemic. (Here's the
story if you're interested.)
I love calling for the teens, and have been surprised to
find that the best dances for them don't overlap much with
either my contra repertoire or my barn dance repertoire. I've
written up some of our
favorite dances, and I'm looking
for more! Specifically:
1) Barn dances that are slightly harder / more interesting
than a typical barn dance crowd can handle
2) Contra dances that are partner-role-free, and have no
swing or just a neighbor swing.
Role-free dances are great because people can line up
anywhere, there's less anxiety about partnering, and there are
no role terms to choose or explain. And swings don't seem to
have the same draw for teens as they do for adult contra
dancers -- they're intimate, and awkward to master. This time
around we're trying cross-hand rather than ballroom swings.
These goals rule out many contras (no chains for example), but
contras have such a rich figure palette that I think there's
room for plenty of good ones.
Do you know any good dances in those categories? If so I'd
love to see them, and I hope you like ours.
Rick
PS - I'd also encourage you to consider starting a teen
dance! Ours has been fantastic fun, and some of the teens from
the first time around are now pillars of our adult dance
community. Happy to talk with anybody who's interested.