Contra Dancing

Ready to have some fun? Do you know about Contra Dancing? It has been described as a type of folk dance that is a blend of English Country Line Dancing and Square Dancing.
There are some great «How To Contra Dance» videos on Youtube.

In Dallas, it is possible to go Contra Dancing pretty much every weekend. The dances are sponsored by the North Texas Traditional Dance Society (NTTDS). Dances are held in various locations throughout the area (Carrollton, Irving, East Dallas). Contra Dancers prefer a wooden dance floor and that is exactly what is to be found at each of the dance venues. The dances always have live music. They are held in a smoke-​free environment. Admission is a very modest $ 8 or even less if you spend $ 15 and become a member of NTTDS. If you want to try it, be 30 minutes early for the dance. They usually do a beginner’s introduction.
The other thing that Contra Dancers do is they put on weekend-​long events. I went to one over the New Years weekend up at Lake Texoma. That event is is called Fiddler’s Dream.
It was great, just great. I don’t remember when I have had that much fun. The people who were there were relaxed and welcoming. The weekend was held at a facility that is a church summer camp. We slept in the cabins, danced and ate in the meeting hall. I got to make new friends and laugh a lot.
Fiddler’s Dream was begun by a local fiddler named Mimi. She told me that she had a dream of having an event where musicians interested in learning more about the music used for Contra Dancing. That dream has become a reality that has happened every year for the last 10 years.
I started going to Contra Dances in August, almost by accident. It didn’t take me 10 minutes to figure out that I had managed to fall into a really good thing! Contra Dancing just makes me giggle. How many other activities can you say that about?