Contra Dance
as an
Intangible Cultural Heritage
​
A Study of the Dance
"Delphiniums and Daisies" by Tanya Rotenberg
What Contra Dance is Not
Once contra dance starts getting explained in detail, people often begin to confuse it with other forms of country or folk dancing they may already know, or those forms of country dance from which contra evolved. One of the best ways to talk about contra dance is by differentiating it from other—even similar or preceding—dance forms and traditions.
The folk process has made contra dance a completely
distinct form of dance from its predecessors.
​
See how much the Scottish country dance, the strathspey "Monymusk" (on the left),
has changed as it became the traditional contra dance "Money Musk" (on the right).
So, it's worth saying that contra dance is not:
-
Country Western dancing
-
Although contra is a form of social dancing and "country dancing" (broadly), it is not part of the same community, as country western dance is done in bars, clubs, halls, and honky-tonks that play country/western music, often with people wearing cowboy hats, cowboys boots, jeans, and other American western-style clothing.
-
These dances are not community dances like contra, but rather typically couple dances like the western two-step, country waltz, or ten step polka, and not done in long lines like contra.
-
-
Line dancing (or country line dancing)
-
Yes, contra is danced in lines, but contra is not related to this form of dance that arose from the disco scene; contra dance is danced with much more interaction between and among dancers, with much less intricate footwork, and not traditionally danced to modern or contemporary country or pop music.
-
-
Modern Western square dancing
-
Although some of the figures (dance moves) looks similar and the calls (words used to describe them) sound the same, Modern Western squares (or club squares) grew out of a social dance tradition that had its origins in ​traditional square dancing
-
Contra dance doesn't require classes, training, or memorization of intricate patterns to dance, doesn't require membership in a square dance club, there is no requirement in contra to have a partner or to follow a dress code, and contra dance is not danced to recorded music.
-
- Traditional square dancing
-
Although many traditional square dancers may dance contra, and vice versa, and while these practices and communities have lots of overlap, they are distinct dance forms and traditions; many of the calls may be similar, but the biggest structural difference is that traditional squares are done in a square formation where four couples face one another and contras are done in long lines of two couples facing each other.
-
-
Appalachian clogging or flatfooting​
-
Again, although many cloggers and flatfooters may be contra dancers, and contra dancers clog and flatfoot, these are two distinct forms of folk dance in overlapping communities; done to similar types of music to contra dancing, it is a form of dance emphasizing percussive footwork, done by solo performers or groups of performers as a step dance, not a social dance​.
-
-
English country dancing​
-
Contra is ​sometimes called the "raucous American cousin" of English country dancing (ECD), sharing much of ECD's history, structure, formations, and versions of its figures, although contra is often danced to livelier, more energetic music, in which closer contact between dancers is the norm; ECD can trace its history back well into the 1500s as a version of dancing done by common people that mimicked the formations and patterns of court dancing done by nobility.
-
Although much is similar about contra and ECD, contra dance found its way to North America as a "form" of English country dancing influenced by French, Scottish, and Irish country dance traditions
-
-
Scottish country dancing​ and Irish set dancing
-
Like English country dancing, traditional Scottish and Irish dance has had deep influences on contra, particularly in the use of Scottish and Irish jigs and reels as contra dance music; however, these two forms of country dancing are characterized by much more intricate formations, figures, and footwork​ than contra dancing.
-