This project to design a conceptual model for the community folk dance tradition of contra dance resulted in the construction of a domain ontology. The study concluded that ontological modeling and semantic technologies were well-suited to structure information about contra dance, and the ontology would serve as the infrastructure for a knowledge base to safeguard and disseminate contra dance history and culture. Insights gained in the development of the ontology also provided a number of suggested principles and standards to aid future intangible cultural heritage (ICH) domain modeling research. Prompted by the safeguarding paradigm initiated through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage as well as a perceived lack of domain models serving as preservation methods for intangible cultural heritage in North America, this research examined a New England / Appalachian form of country dance, a form of social dancing with roots in 17th century England. A survey of dance resources was conducted, reviewing examples of choreography notation and instructions, records of dance events, and video recordings of dance performances. Domain and content analysis were performed on the resources to determine concepts and themes regarding choreographic components and their relationships, the structure and function of cultural works, their creative expressions and performances, and the evidence of their expressions in documents and recordings. Ontology building methodology and previously developed models for cultural heritage domains guided the ontology development, revision, and testing phases. The model carried out in the ontology presented a way to represent the flexible, modular nature of contra dance choreography as structured data through establishment of a standard vocabulary and syntactical structure, as well as the sequential order of movements. It simultaneously supported the semantic enhancement of unstructured and semistructured choreographic data found in the natural language instructions of dance calling and varying traditions of written notation, which were necessary parts of the dance heritage to preserve. The ontology also classified and described the properties of other entities found in the cultural heritage domain, such as dance works, performances, dance practitioners and groups, and the places dance events occurred. Supporting ontology development and interoperability, the top levels of the ontology were adapted from or mapped to the IFLA Library Reference Model (LRM) and the object-oriented Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBRoo) model. Suggested opportunities for future research included integration of the ontology with other relevant knowledge organization systems, domain ontologies, conceptual models, and dance notation methods, extension to other related intangible cultural heritage, as well as development of metadata standards and other semantic technologies to further safeguard contra dance history and tradition.