I have a challenge coming up next month, and I'm hoping that some of the
folks out there who have experience both in the MWSD and contra worlds
may be able to help me out. The issue: What's the best way to introduce
contra to current MWSD folks.
I was invited to call contras for a local MWSD group whose caller is out
of town at the national convention. As things have turned out, the
group decided to combine with another local club (whose caller is not
going out of town) for the evening, so I'll be doing 90 minutes of
contras and then the regular caller will do the rest of the evening of
squares. I'll be working with recorded music, but much of it will be
recordings done at live dances, which hopefully will give some of the
feel. I'm also hoping to import some of our regular contra dancers both
So... Does anyone have thoughts on what I should/will need to emphasize
in teaching to get MWSD folks doing contras? From what I've been
reading/watching, most of the moves that we have in common take *about*
the same amount of time, but generally will be on the shorter side. I'm
hoping that I'll be able to get them feeling not just the beat but the
phrase of the music so that we don't have the move wait call move wait
call that I see in so many MWSD videos.
I also know that they're not going to be used to longer swings, so I'm
planning to talk about that, and the connection to partner and neighbor,
and the opportunity for flourishes that longer swings (and slightly more
time on the moves in general can allow).
Then we get into allemandes, waves and such, all of which they're used
to doing hands down, rather than hands up elbows down like you generally
do in a contra dance. When you get into things like balances, rory
o'mores and such, they're really going to need the weight that you can
get more easily with a hands up allemande/wave, but how likely am I to
be able to overcome training and muscle memory?
Do folks have suggestions for any other problem moves (in that they mean
one thing in MWSD and a completely -- or just enough to be troublesome
-- different thing in contra)? Any things that might work particularly
well? Anyone done this already and have war stories (or better still,
success stories)?
Thanks!
Jack Mitchell
Durham, NC
