I’m into contra dancing. I’m also a mathematician by training. I’m intrigued by the multitude of permutations possible in a contra dance composition. Many contra dances have been written to date, making it necessary for composers of new contra dances to seek increasingly creative ways of combining the different contra dance moves into a danceable routine. I read that one composer thought that all the danceable contra dances had already been written. When you start thinking about writing a new contra dance, it can certainly feel impossible to come up with something uniquely yours.
Given the number of possible permutations, it’s not that likely that all danceable contra dances based strictly on the traditional contra dance moves have already been written. But if I came up with some sequence of traditional contra dance moves that I thought might not have been previously composed/published by someone else, how would I know for sure? I understand there are a ton of contra dances out there, and who has the time to find and peruse them all? Not me. The obvious approach for me to take in composing a unique contra dance is to insert one or more non-traditional elements. There’s still a chance someone else has done the same, but the odds are small enough for me.
So that’s what I’ve done with the following contra dance. I’ve called it No Looking Back. I hereby release this composition to the public domain. The public domain portion of this post is clearly marked below, between the lines in bold. Anyone may call this dance, distribute it, publish it, modify it, etc., without asking for my permission. At the time of this writing, the dance has not been tested by a large group of dancers, only by myself moving marks around on the page, and walking through the steps with imaginary dancers to music in my head. The timing feels good to me and I believe it will work with a large group. I don’t make any promises. 🙂
If you use this composition in any way, you don’t have to give me credit, but it would be appreciated if you did. I’d like you to mention the title of the dance and to use the title I’ve given it, but you don’t have to do that either if you like something else better. The one thing you can’t legally do is claim that you composed this dance, unless you actually did come up with it independently, in which case, if you think I’m infringing your copyright, leave a comment and we’ll discuss the matter.
As for my credentials, granted, I’ve never written a contra dance before and have never called one. But I have over ten years experience dancing contra dances. Most of my contra dancing experience to date was in Maryland, at the Glen Echo ballroom and other venues in the Baltimore-D.C. area. In 2004 I moved to Florida, and after a foot injury in 2006 that put the kibosh on my dancing for nearly a decade, I’m finally over my injury and am dancing again in the central Florida area.
In the composition below, I’ll present the steps first and then some notes about the steps that need them.
Here starts the public domain portion of this post.
No Looking Back – A Contra Dance by Michael Eidson (aka Mr. Mike from Windermere)
Duple Improper, total of 64 beats
A1. Swing your neighbor on the side (8 beats), Circle Left 2 places (4 beats), Balance Ring (4 beats)
A2. Circle Left 2 places (4 beats), Balance Ring (4 beats) [1], Ladies Allemande Right 1 1/2 (8 beats)
B1. Swing Partner on the side (8 beats), Ladies Do-si-do 1 1/2 while Gents face out (8 beats) [2][3]
B2. Long Lines “Forward” (Outward) (4 beats) [4][5][6], California Twirl with new Neighbor (4 beats) [7], Long Lines Forward (Inward) (4 beats) [8], Balance new Neighbor (4 beats) [9]
Notes:
[1] At this point in the dance, dancers are in the same position as they will need to be in for the long lines “forward” (outward) that occurs at the beginning of B2. If they look in the direction they will be progressing, they will see their future new neighbor standing next to them at this point. Ladies should memorize the two gents they are standing between at this point in the dance, so they will know which two gents to walk in between to form long lines at the end of the do-si-do in B1.
[2] This is where the first non-traditional element comes into play. While the ladies do-si-do, the gents are to turn in place and face outward, holding out their hands so the ladies can walk into place and easily take hands with the gents to form a long line. At the end of the do-si-do, the ladies step into the line between their current neighbor and their soon-to-be new neighbor, the two gents they memorized as described in note [1] above.
[3] This doesn’t have to be a do-si-do, of course. To make this a bit more fun, if you have experienced dancers, you could tell the ladies they are free to do any move here with each other as they desire, because the gents won’t be looking. (There’s “No Looking Back,” as the title says.) If the ladies want to swing, or gypsy, or whatever, it’s up to them, as long as they end it in time to get into long lines for B2.
[4] If the long lines are formed correctly, everyone will be facing out, with the lady on the right side of their new neighbor. The progression basically occurs right here, even though the dancers are still physically in the space occupied by their original set of four.
[5] Since the long lines are facing outward, going forward will take everyone away from their partners. If you have multiple contra lines in the dance hall, make sure there is plenty of space between them before starting this dance, so dancers don’t run into the long lines coming at them from an adjacent contra line.
[6] For those who are out at the ends of the contra line, they get back into the dance by joining the long lines at this point. They need to be in the long lines facing out so they can do the required California twirl coming up next.
[7] Typically, long lines go forward and back with nothing in between the forward and back. In this dance, the forward and back sequence is interrupted with a California twirl with the new neighbor. The gents drop hands with their previous neighbor and California twirl with the new neighbor in their right hand. The progression is obvious now. It may feel to some dancers that it has “snuck up” on them. 🙂
[8] Everyone is now facing inward, so taking long lines and moving forward brings them back towards their partners. The combination of the two forwards interrupted by the California twirl replaces the traditional forward and back sequence, and takes 4 beats longer than the traditional sequence.
[9] This Balance coming at the end of the routine effectively creates a Balance and Swing maneuver with one’s neighbor, despite the fact that the swing with the neighbor at the beginning of the routine did not include a balance. If I know contra dancers, some of them will skip this balance and go for an extended swing with their neighbor. If that’s what they want to do, no caller can stop them. 🙂
A final note: In a crowded dance hall, where moving long lines forward/outward may cause adjacent contra lines to collide, you could try replacing the two “Long Lines Forward” with two “Long Lines Back.” This could still lead to collisions, but it would be between partners bumping backsides. It depends on your group of dancers as to whether you’d want to try this. The dancers would still need space for the California twirl between the two “Long Lines Back” moves.
Here ends the public domain portion of this post.
If you try out this dance, I’d love to hear how it went. Do the non-traditional elements make it too difficult for dancers to dance or for callers to call or teach? Personally, I enjoy dancing contra dances that contain elements I’ve not danced before, and I think many other experienced contra dancers feel the same way.
I have some other thoughts about new contra dances using non-traditional elements, so check back every so often and peek at my Contra Dance category of posts.
If you’ve recently been to the contra dances in Casselberry, Cocoa Beach, Melbourne, or Tampa (Rhapsody Ballroom), you may have seen me. My picture is posted on this page. Instead of a ball cap, though, I usually wear a head band and hang a towel on my belt, because I sweat a bit when I’m dancing. I used to be 40 pounds heavier, but, yeah, I could stand to lose a few more pounds. If you see me at a contra dance, I’d be pleased for you to tell me in person that you read this blog post. Maybe we could even dance a contra together. Or if you’re a caller, I’d love to have the chance to try out this dance myself.
Thanks for reading!
