Hi all, I have a playlist of contra videos for the uninitiated. One of them might be from Asheville but I'm not sure.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhxCPUBwPBkHaBPxyYs1crMkCmDzAH9rE&jct=hWGzvwsAhpnWFVvxId4fztXVBrIefg Enjoy, Sarah On Mon, Nov 16, 2020 at 4:59 PM Winston, Alan P. via Contra Callers < [email protected]> wrote: > As someone who's deeply interested in dance history, I can tell you that > approximately nobody cares, at least until they're invested in the dance > form. If you want you can spend 10 seconds mentioning that it's an > American cultural hybrid with roots from before the Revolution and has > contributions from different ethnicities/races including Black, White, and > Native American. Or not. If you go historical, avoid suggesting that it's > an exclusively-White cultural product. > > It might be worth mentioning that it's fun we make for ourselves, that > there are regional styles, that callers and musicians are usually community > members and can be found dancing when they're not calling or playing. > > I've seen at least one pretty sexy contra video from Asheville. > > -- Alan > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* Adam Carlson via Contra Callers < > [email protected]> > *Sent:* Monday, November 16, 2020 8:52 AM > *To:* callers <[email protected]> > *Subject:* [Callers] How to talk about contra dance to the uninitiated on > Zoom > > Hi All, > > At work, we have a Fun Friday thing where someone does a 1/2 hr > presentation on something of interest. It could be travel, a hobby, or > whatever. They're asking me to do one on contra dance. In the before times > when we could do it in person, I would have taught them a simple dance to > recorded music. But I'm trying to think about what to say about contra in > 1/2 an hour that'll be fun. Someone else did latin ballroom dancing and > they tried to share their screen and play a bunch of videos, which was a > total fail, but then they shared the youtube links and people loved it. > Contra isn't quite as sexy as that, and he was doing performances rather > than taking videos of salsa at the club, so it was pretty impressive. > > Thoughts? I know a little about contra history, but I'm not super > passionate about it. I can certainly play a bunch of the great music. I can > show clips of large events (Folklife), techno contra, family dances, and > other variants (tractor contas, anyone). > > One thing I'd love to do is to get people up and dancing, but I realize > that's probably not going to work. I regularly attend Zoom dances, but I > don't think a bunch of non-dancers will just get up and have fun having > never learned any of the moves. If anyone's got a great dance that > beginners can do (no terminology) and that's designed for singles or the > occasional couple, please share. Luckily a bunch of singles dances are > being written now, but they mostly assume an experienced audience. > > Cheers, > Adam > _______________________________________________ > Contra Callers mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
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