I've used 25 sq ft per couple as a target number for contra dance floor space. This is very similar to the 1.5 sq yard per person mentioned below (that would result in 27 sq ft per couple). I usually plan on twice as much room for English dances. Of course these are just Rules-of-Thumb and not immutable Laws of Nature. ;-) Here are a few possible dances, including another by Orace Johnson. Money in Both Pockets Orace Johnson duple proper or improper Adapted from the chestnut contra A1 - 1's do-si-do as a couple with 2nd Lady (1-4), Circle left 3 hands round (5-8) (1's and 2nd Lady) A2 - 1's do the same with 2nd man (1-8) B1 - Down the hall 4 in line, 1's in the center, turn alone (1-4), Return and bend the line to a circle (5-8) B2 - Circle left (1-4), Star left (5-8) Broken Sixpence Don Armstrong duple improper 1 - do-si-do your neighbor 2 - men do-si-do in the center 3 - women do-si-do in the center 4 - actives swing in the center 5 - down the hall 4 in line, actives in the middle, turn alone 6 - come back to place, bend the line to a circle 7 - circle left 8 - star left back The orginal message mentioned "Jefferson and Lincoln". I'm not familiar with that one, but it may be a variation on the name for the dance I have down as "Jefferson's Reel". Jefferson's Reel Dudley Briggs; adapted from Jefferson and Liberty duple proper or improper 1 - circle left 2 - circle right 3 - star right 4 - star left 5 - 1's down the outside 6 - return to place 7 - down the hall 4 in line, 1's in the center 8 - all back up, 1's arch joined hands, 2's duck through the arch to meet new neighbors A similar dance which includes a swing is: Saturday Night Stroll Mavis McGaugh duple improper 1 - Circle left 2 - Circle right 3 - Gents do-si-do 4 - Ladies do-si-do 5-6 1's balance and swing 7 - Down the hall 4 in line, 1's in the center 8 - All back up, 1's arch joined hands, 2's duck through the arch to meet new neighbors You also might consider some easy circle mixers such as Circassian Circle and La Bastringue. Good luck. Jonathan ----- Jonathan Sivier Caller of Contra, Square, English and Early American Dances jsivier AT illinois DOT edu Dance Page: http://www.sivier.me/dance_leader.html ----- Q: How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? A: It depends on what dance you call! On 8/1/2016 9:51 AM, Linda Leslie via Callers wrote:

Hello Woody, I have not assumed that only 20 couples would dance, I was just using that as a way to determine how much dance floor is needed. I would love three or four lines of 20 couples. I have not yet visited the hall. I have spoken at length with the B&G. They are indeed contra dancers. I let them know that they could have a great time with few or no contras, but they are insisting. I will include a longways and a circle mixer, if space allows, before I go to contras. I will have some easy, gender free contras to start, and a few very easy duple improper contras. It is their day, and they are calling the shots, but perhaps as the event develops, I can persuade them to be flexible. I have many ONS dances to draw from. Thanks for the advice, it will be useful. Rich Sbardella Stafford, CT On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 5:30 PM, Woody Lane via Callers < callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

Woodie got it right. Talk with the B&G. Most everyone would much prefer the dances to be fun for everyone, rather than more complicated and difficult dances that fail with all the beginners. Just be sure you have a good band who can keep a strong beat and great tunes. For the grand march have the B&G lead the march (talk with them about how this will work beforehand). Then have them end up in front and middle where all can applaud them. A Virginia reel is good for beginners, as is the Galopede. I've found that with good music and an enthusiastic crowd, most good dancers enjoy the Galopede, or Virginia reel as much as the most modern contras, as they are dancing with (at lest some) friends, and they can always add their own flourishes. And when all are lined up after the grand march, immediately form lines from where they stand. Don't let them sit down. Keep them dancing. On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 5:53 PM, Rich Sbardella via Callers &lt;callers(a)lists.sharedweight.net&gt; wrote:

Rich, Several other people have already addressed the point that the bride and groom are being unrealistic if they expect both the kind of dancing they're used to at regular dances and a high level of participation by their non-contra-dancer friends and relatives. You're clearly well aware of it as well. And I'm sure you know it's even more so if alcohol will be served. Turning to the topic of space requirements, here are my thought: On Aug 1, 2016, at 3:29 PM, David Harding wrote: The late Larry Jennings suggests [See _Give-and-Take, sec. III-3, "Set Spacing"that a spacing of 3' per couple or 6' per foursome is about ideal, and from my own observations I'm inclined to agree. Of course some dances include figures that are more comfortable with more more space along the set--for example a roll away across the set. On the other hand, I think that balances in long waves begin to feel uncomfortably stretched out with a spacing of more than 3'. Some readers may recall the occasional practice of dancers kissing their partners--and sometimes even their shadows--during the balances in "Rory O'More". I'm not advocating here that any caller set out to revive that practice (fun for the mutually consenting, but not necessarily hygienic), but I think that a comfortable spacing should not be such as to make it impossible. Try balancing right and left while holding a yardstick horizontally at shoulder height with one hand cupped over each end as if you were holding the hands of adjacent dancers. I think you will easily convince yourself that with a 4' spacing, and with everyone keeping hold of hands along the wavy line, people with arms of ordinary length would have a hard time getting within a foot of each other's faces. David also wrote: Of course I agree. I haven't called many weddings, company parties, or similar one-nighters, but I do recall one where I called a simple contra with a "down the hall" figure (perhaps "Jefferson's Reel") and where there wasn't enough space for dancers to go a whole eight steps. Experienced contra dancers who run out of room to go down the hall know that they need to slow down or stop and use up the right amount of music before starting back up. Not so the inexperienced dancers at this party. As soon as the bottommost dancers ran out of room, after about four steps, they simply had to turn around and start back up, and the other couples then followed suit. Nothing I could say--or at least nothing I could think of to say while the music was playing--seemed to have the least effect at dissuading them. (There was actually enough space in the room, by the way. The obstacle was a table set up a few feet past the end of the set. If I'd been on the ball, I'd have made sure it got moved out of the way before the dance started.) If the room doesn't have a usable stage, you'll need to allow space for yourself, the sound system, and the band (if you're using live music). Regarding the width of a contra set, I'll call attention--as I have on other occasions when this topic has come up--to the "Folk Floor" used for contra dancing at the Northwest Folklife Festival. The top layer of this floor consists of gray painted 4'x8' sheets of masonite with very visible 3"-wide white tape at the seams. During well-attended sessions, the contra lines tend very strongly to gravitate into the seven 8'-wide "lanes" (as I'll call them) defined by the strips of tape running the length of the hall. Even when there are fewer than seven sets, dancers often center their sets in some of the the "lanes" and spill only slightly into adjacent empty lanes. Not everyone is aware of this phenomenon, but it's strikingly obvious once you pay attention. From experience dancing at Folklife, I consider the 8' set width to be slightly crowded. Seven-foot-wide sets feel quite crowded (based on experience at another hall I happened to measure). I think a width of ten feet per set would be quite comfortable and that twelve feet per set would be spacious. I haven't made careful observations on this point, but I'd guess that with a spacing of twelve feet per set it would already be somewhat inconvenient for inactive dancers to steal a swing with someone in an adjacent set while actives are swinging in the middle. Of course if you want to have chairs along one or both side walls, and if you want space for people to walk between the front and back of the hall without dodging dancers or tripping over people seated in the chairs, those things will reduce the effective width of the dancing space. If the plan for the wedding reception calls for tables to be moved to clear space for dancing, try to get as definite a picture as you can about what's supposed to happen and when, and try to get the bride and groom to think in advance about what they'll do if the schedule slips. The caller isn't going to be the person with authority to tell the wedding couple's aunts and uncles to move the table with their half-finished meals. --Jim

Sorry for the testiness, and mostly not even warranted—on closer reading I realized that some people were giving space per couple, which I was reading as space per person. Several people are reporting in the neighborhood of 15 sqft per person. Still, I’d suggest that making note of actual dances in actual rooms that have actual sizes with actual humans dancing is a more useful metric than measuring imagined fingertip to fingertip, however nuanced those imagined finger positions are.