Blog Archives

Caller Gaye Fifer on Techno at Terpsichore's

5/31/2011

For the past two years, Gaye Fifer has called the late night techno contra at Terpsichore's Dance Holiday, a family event between Christmas and New Year's in Roanoke, WV.

Gaye got started calling techno at Terpsichore's at the behest of her daughter, Rachel Fifer. As Gaye explains, "we often have a 'late night' activity, and there is a solid group of young people who were interested in techno.... The first year, Rachel provided the music. Last year, Jeremiah Seligman [a.k.a. dJ improper] (from the DC area) provided the music. I spent some time listening to the music and figuring out how many 'potatoes' I would have "

BONUS VIDEO: Nils calls his last dance of ContraStock

5/27/2011

Keep watching to the very end...also, ParkinsonDana, you rock (thanks Kevin for sending!).

Friday Flourish: Pattycake and Roll-Away Petronella Spins

5/26/2011

This week we continue with our four-person move flourishes (thank you again to Julie Crow and Mike Lyons for helping us out!); this week we play with Petronella spins!

Only one caveat this week: the roll-aways will make you and your partner trade places; unless you're dancing switch, make sure there are enough Petronella turns to get you both in the places you want to be in by the end of the sequence. This one may confuse new dancers, so use with caution.

With patty-cake, however, it doesn't matter which place you're in or whether it's with your neighbor, your partner, or your shadow. It's also a fairly basic flourish that can be led on just about anyone and if it's not answered -- no harm, no foul, dance goes on, no special potential for injury (hooray!).

Your videos could be featured on this blog too! Upload them to YouTube and let me know they're there through the Contact form!

But wait, there's more! Bonus Videos from Contra Sonic last Tuesday, May 24th!

This week I set up the camera and shot some bonus videos up on the Contra Syncretist YouTube channel from the Contra Sonic dance from last Tuesday night (Janine "J-9" Smith and Brian "B-Ham" Hamshar called):

Attention Boston-area Readers: I'll be traveling north to visit Boston and while my presence at the Brattleboro, VT dawn dance is looking highly unlikely (alas!), I am planning to bring my host with me to the Scout House on Monday night to dance over in Concord! Hope to see you on the dance floor!

Carry on Dancing,

Ryan, a.k.a. the Contra Syncretist

Video Evidence of Syncretism in Progress

5/25/2011

This video was shot last Sunday at Contrastock near Washington, DC. The band was billed as "Giant Swallow Motion" -- Giant Robot Dance, Perpetual e-Motion, and Swallowtail all took the stage at once for the final set to rock the house. This one was shot by YouTube user joyceyens and the next one by klmabon:

One more: this one was shot of two "chaos lines" (i.e., voluntary partner and gender-role swapping, flourishes galore) at ContraShock in New York, NY (which featured Perpetual e-Motion and Giant Robot Dance on May 20-21):

Speaking of YouTube, go check out the contrasyncretist YouTube channel which features the weekly Friday Flourishes and footage from the Glen Echo community's Contra Sonic series. Film and upload your flourishes and tell me about them on the Contact form, and they might get featured on this blog!

Organizing and Calling Club Contras: Brian Hamshar

5/23/2011

“One of the reasons I decided to get into dance calling, aside from my love of contra and related dance forms, was so that I could make a positive contribution to the advancement and evolution of the community, the ‘folk process,’” says Brian Hamshar. He is the resident caller and organizer of Club Contras, a monthly crossover contra series at Greenwood Community Center in Greenwood, VA (near Charlottesville).

So what gave him the idea to start the series, originally?

Friday Flourish -- Variants on a Hay: Dead Cat Bounce & "London Bridge" Hay

5/19/2011

This week Steve and I got Julie Crow and Mike Lyons to help us demonstrate a couple of flourishes on a full hay for four. (N.B.: On these it'd probably be helpful to make sure that you're doing hays with people who are familiar with a normal hay for four without outside guidance, or it is highly likely you will confuse them, and that's no fun for anybody.)

Special thanks to Julie and Mike for volunteering to help!

Please send in your flourishes! Upload them to YouTube and let us know they're up there on the Contact form or on the Contra Syncretist YouTube Channel and they might get featured on this blog!

We will be at Contrastock at Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, MD on Sunday (yay!). Swallowtail, Perpetual e-Motion, and Giant Robot Dance will be playing and Nils Fredland, Will Mentor, George Marshall, and Tim Van Egmond will be calling! It promises to be a blast!

Thoughts from a Musician -- and some from the Syncretist

5/18/2011

Recently I ended up sitting in for a little bit at a dinner with the members of traditional contra dance band Morning Star (Brendan Taaffe, Garrett Sawyer, and Geordie Lynd) and caller Anna Rain when they played and called the FSGW Sunday Night Dance. In the course of this, I told them about this site and we got into a little bit of the ongoing dialogue about what techno contras mean for the tradition. Brendan made a point that I think is worth considering:

Friday Flourish: Rollover

5/13/2011

For this week's Friday Flourish, we take a break from swings and throw in something Steve likes to put into California Twirls.

See more videos on the ContraSyncretist YouTube channel where I am building a library of moves and how to do them.

Please (pretty please?) share your flourishes! Upload the how-tos to YouTube, send me the link in the Contact Me form, and they might get featured on this blog!

Carry on Dancing,

CS

Caller's Perspective: Perry Shafran

5/11/2011

The other day, I talked to Perry Shafran, who called the April Contra Sonic monthly techno contra dance in Washington, DC, about his experience. He has been to all but one of the Contra Sonic dances so far (although he has only called the one) and was very forthcoming, provoking a few questions that I'd be interested to hear responses to in the comments.

When talking about his Contra Sonic experience, Perry had several compliments for the resident dJ improper: "I think that Jeremiah does a great job in making it not too different for callers. As you know, he takes the techno music and makes it square for contra dances. The fact that Jeremiah knows contra and knows what it takes to make music for contra dancing is very important for this dance. Unlike some of the other callers, I did not meet with him until about 1 hour before the dance. He likes to go over what the music is like with the caller -- especially the intro beats that we call 'potatoes.' The 4 intro beats in a regular contra sound completely different than a Contra Sonic. In a regular contra, one instrument, say a fiddle or a piano, plays 4 beats, then the whole band starts their tune. In a Sonic, the 4 (or 8) beats are unrecognizable oftentimes from the main tune -- and he counts down with you so you know when it's time to start calling."

Perry continues, "In many ways the Sonic is easier calling -- you don't have to tell anyone when you want to stop -- you stop when the music is finished. In a regular contra the band will play forever until you tell them it's time to stop."

Bringing Techno Contra to the West Coast: Chelsea Co

5/8/2011

Techno contra is not just an East Coast phenomenon. Chelsea Co is the mastermind behind a techno contra at Fremont Abbey and the Binary Blackout in Seattle, Washington. She was kind enough to take the time out of her busy schedule and tell Contra Syncretist about her experiences organizing both events:

“One of my core motives in life is creative collaboration,” says Chelsea. “It is something that I feel allows individuals to come together to create a product that is vibrant, powerful and inspiring. A techno contra is one of the best instances that I have experienced such a creative collaboration. The DJ, the caller, the visual technician, the hall, and the dancers all come together to create an energy that thrives and pulses throughout everyone's body and soul and pushes us further towards euphoria. And that euphoria is one of the greatest gifts I have ever had the pleasure of giving to people!” She also admits that she was “fed up with the fact that the East Coast was having techno contras a plenty and the West Coast was barren! So I was sought to fix that immediately.”

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