All About Contra Dancing and Swinging

The only real answer to the question "What is contra dance?" comes when you try it. The next best thing is to see it being danced. Watch a few videos, then come back here and carry on reading!

Going contra dancing makes a great social evening because you don't have to learn any footwork (just walk smoothly to the beat) and because by the end of the evening you are likely to have danced with everyone else in the room.

You start by asking someone to dance and forming long lines. The lines are arranged so that, if you are a man, you have your lady opposite you and two more ladies (your neighbours) on either side of you. The caller will then walk you through some simple moves during which you interact with your partner, your neighbours and the small group of four people immediately around you. One of the moves will move you up or down the line with your partner so that you get new neighbours. The music starts: "Turning, moving, spinning, dresses swirling, music beating, eyes in contact with a partner, then another, then another, then another, and the fiddle turns a corner, the phrase repeats, the dance repeats. You smile. Your body smiles." (Doug Plummer)

Allemande, dosido, gypsy, circle, star, ladies' chain, hey, swing - there aren't many moves to learn - this is a dance form from which you can get full pleasure the very first time that you do it.

Contra dancing has been evolving in America over the last thirty years, and still continues to evolve. The way the lines are set up and the way that the best dances (out of over 6000!) are choreographed means that everyone is moving all the time and that the moves flow beautifully into each other. On top of that the American styling adds extra spins, twirls and variations, so that you can interpret the music and do your own thing - as long as you are heading in the right direction as soon as the next phrase of the music starts!

In most dances you will get to swing your neighbour (a new one every time you move up or down the line!) as well as your partner. The swing is a wonderful experience. In its basic form you take your partner in your arms and spin together on the spot. Apart from the countless variations of how you can hold each other to achieve different effects and high speeds, there is a recent move towards treating the period of the swing as time that you can do anything you like with your partner. Using influences from swing, hip-hop, tango and dirty dancing, the dancers just get down to having fun on the dance floor.

The weekly Contrafusions dances will have an emphasis on teaching as well as dancing. If you have never done this type of dancing before we will help you to get started so that you can join in and have fun on your first night.

We will also be teaching you how to do all the styling and variations that the Americans are now putting into their dancing, so, whether you are an experienced dancer or an up-and-coming beginner, we hope to help you enhance your dancing and add to your enjoyment of the evening. We will also be happy to run workshops for any groups that want a taster of contra dancing.

Swinging with your partner is a key part of modern American contra dances. Most dances will have at least one swing, and many have two - one with your neighbour and one with your partner.

There are countless different ways to swing, including walking swings, hornpipe swings and travelling swings, but the most popular by far in contra dancing is the simple buzz-step swing, done on the spot.

Apart from not listening to the music, the two biggest challenges I find on the dance-floor are:

1. people who think they have to move their body to the left to provide rotation. Wrong! All the rotation comes from the feet, helped by physics.
2. people who have misunderstood words like lean and tension and are using far too many muscles to push, pull, clamp and grip their partner - it should be relaxed and effortless.

Put some music on and start by standing by yourself and just walking on the spot (not turning), but with your right foot flat and your left leg slightly bent so that only the toe of the left foot is touching the floor, with the heel up in the air. The left foot should be trailing so that the left toe is roughly beside the right heel. It is just right-left-right-left - walking on the spot - no hopping or jumping. The objective of a swing is to rotate - any energy you use to go up and down is wasted!

Your feet should only barely leave the floor.

Now turn clockwise on the spot by yourself, making sure that your feet are close together and the left foot is trailing slightly. This is where the rotation comes from, from your feet, not from the angle or direction of your body!

For the next step you will need a partner. Once you both have the basics of turning on the spot smoothly, link right elbows and turn together, preferably with some steady music in the background. Practise turning smoothly together with your right feet close to each other. Your feet should be outside your partner's feet - it is your right little toes that are beside each other.

Once you can step smoothly around on the beat together try switching to the "ballroom" hold.

Now, for a good swing you don't really want a formal ballroom hold. The most effective place for the man's right hand is high up on the lady's left shoulder-blade, giving good support across a wide area, thus reducing the pressure on any particular point. (If you hold her lower than her shoulder-blade then centrifugal force will make her upper body move away so that she bends uncomfortably at the point where your hand is.) The lady's left hand just rests lightly on the man's arm. The man's left hand just holds the ladies right hand loosely.

Now, that is the start of a good swing.

But to get high speed up you need to form a single entity that is well-balanced and as symmetrical as possible. You also need to avoid dizziness. So a really key point is for both of you to turn your upper body so that it is facing your partner's. This also allows you to look into your partner's eyes; looking at your partner instead of the room stops you getting dizzy. If you aren't comfortable with eye contact then focus on somewhere slightly above or below your partner's eyes (but not too far below, gentlemen!).

The feet, of course, remain unchanged so that your bodies are twisted slightly at the waist.

A good exercise for this, and a beautiful swing in its own right, is for the man to place both hands on his partner's shoulder-blades and for the lady to relax her arms completely - leave them in space, or rest them on the man's arms.

If you are too close together swings don't work well. Control of body-weight is critical for a good swing. To "give weight" practise standing by yourself and taking your upper body back slightly without falling over - a very slight sitting motion. That is all you need to do to make the swing better - you don't need to lean back - centrifugal force will take you both backwards slightly so that you get a good connection between the man's hands and the lady's shoulder-blades.

Relax, look into each other's eyes and enjoy the swing.

Once you have that working well, go back to the ballroom hold - but without changing your relative body positions - keep your upper bodies facing each other! Foreshortening the hold between the man's left hand and the lady's right hand works really well - the man loosely cups the lady's elbow and the lady loosely cups the man's arm just above his elbow. Apart from saving space it makes it easier to keep your bodies parallel to each other.

Hopefully, ladies, you will have had a good experience in the double-shoulder-blade hold and will now realise that you don't need to grip, pull, press, clamp, dig in, hang off the man or anything else. If the man can get the lady to trust him, then hopefully she will relax. Both partners always need to be responsible for their own balance.

To get speed up, make sure you have a relaxed symmetrical coupling and move your feet faster and further; keep them close to the ground - energy spent lifting your bodies up and down in the air is wasted - keep it smooth. The right foot steps forward further around the circle, reaching behind your partner's feet; the left toe just steps where it is.

A good swing should seem effortless - just cradle your partner and move your feet smoothly.

Now that you can swing, step two is to learn how to get smoothly in and out of the swing, timing it so that you are exactly on the musical phrasing, making the moves flow seamlessly from one into another, and giving your partner a great experience!

Practise!

Enjoy your swinging!