What’s So Great About Contra Dancing?
A few months ago, a subscriber to the newsgroup rec.folk-dancing asked for discussion of this question: why do you dance? At the time, I was not inclined to examine dancing philosophically, but recently I discovered that I needed to define just what it is about contra dancing that has turned this overweight, middle-aged secretary into a contra dance ‘junkie.’
Part of the appeal of contra dancing, for me, is its sense of Cmty. Nice folks get together once or twice a month and dance with each other. It’s as simple as that, and as profound. The kind of contact you get from dancing is something very rare in today’s society. Where else can you hold hands with or put your arm around people without worrying about the "message" you’re sending? Certainly not in the workplace! We work in "cube farms," and isolate ourselves at computer terminals. Innocent physical contact, especially between the sexes, is scrupulously avoided.
Contra dancing breaks down the barriers that keep us isolated from others in our daily life. You learn that it feels good when an entire roomful of people moves in time with upbeat music. Hearts pound; breathing accelerates; feet stomp in unison. You put out your hand, and someone is there to take it. Over and over again. All the way down the set and back. You learn to trust, and to welcome interaction with each new person along the line. This is how you become part of a dance Cmty.
As you dance with the members of your Cmty, you develop good feelings for them, and tolerance for their foibles and rough edges. It doesn’t matter how people dress or how old they are, what color they are, or whether they went to college; contra dancing is very democratic that way. Everyone does the same dance, to the same music. Sweat happens. But you’re sweating too; it’s a natural part of vigorous dancing, and you learn to live with a certain amount of wetness and "ripeness." Dancing is playful, like being a kid again, running flat out with your buddies and then collapsing in happy exhaustion.
Do I believe contra dancing is always perfect? By no means! We live in an imperfect world, and dancing is no exception. After you’ve been dancing long enough to gain some experience, it’s easy to fall into negative thinking because dances don’t always go the way you think they should. Sometimes there are so many beginners that it’s hard to keep a dance from falling apart. Sometimes there are too many men. (Too many women do not pose a problem; they just dance with each other. It’s hard for men to do that). Sometimes you have to sit one out. Sometimes the bands or the callers get in a rut, and all the dances start to look and sound the same. My solution to these glitches is to get out there and dance! I remember how I felt the first time I was swept up in the music; I hold onto a playful attitude (dancing is fun, not rocket science), and I dance with the beginners until they "get it" too. Above all, I appreciate and enjoy my dance Cmty—without them, I wouldn’t be dancing at all!