Alan wrote: I'm with you, and so is, eg "Heather and Rose" in Oregon and "Triangle Country Dancers" in North Carolina. But I think that train has probably left the station on self-consciously gender-free contra dancing. Actually, Triangle Country Dancers, primarily a contra dance group, is not gender-free. Sun Assembly, the English group in our area, is. That's where I learned to dance and call English and it was strange the first time I danced elsewhere and had to acclimate to "Ladies" and "Men." (Even though I'd been dancing and calling contras using gendered language.) I like the more relaxed atmosphere of not needing to find a partner and no concern about gender balance. Bree Kalb Carrboro, NC