[Callers] Tempo

[tom hinds]

I believe that the tempo for dancing contras in the United States has to do with the style and wants of the dancers.  It’s the desire to improvise and flirt which I think is an integral part of the US contra scene and is the reason for the tempo being what it is.

If you look at the contra dancing in Denmark, the tempos are much faster.  Although I haven’t been there for several years they don’t improvise and they don’t do much if any flirting either.   They dance very straight.  My conclusion from watching them quite a bit is that slower tempos would leave them standing around which they wouldn’t find as much fun.   I’ve never timed the music but I would guess it’s easily at 124 bpm or higher, definitely the same as a tempo for squares here.

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