Contra dancing 2011

Saturday night Tammy and I went to a contra dance.  This month the dance was held at the Senior Citizen Center in downtown Kalispell.  The room is a little smaller than the usual location at the Salvation Army Center.  Lots of people showed up so the dance floor was full.

The contra dancing group invited a Kalispell group of swing dancers to demonstrate some swing dances.  During intermission eight young dancers demonstrated several Lindy Hop styles of swing dancing.  The swing dancers also danced some of the contra dances have never done it before.  For one contra dance where Tammy and I sat out the dance they asked me to record them dancing using one of the member's iphone.

Tammy is not crazy about contra dancing as she thinks it is corny.  It was a role reversal as I had to encourage/drag her out onto the floor to dance.  It was fun swinging her around and around for that section of the dances.  I could never get her to balance as part of the balance and swing move.  Tammy would always go in for the swing move.

The people dancing ranged from a five/six year old girl to people who looked to be in their 70s.  The skill level ranged from people who danced before and knew the dance moves to people who never danced before.  As contra dancing is a social dance where you dance with your partner and with a series of other dancers, it could be a challenge when the other dancer was a shy young child not knowing what to do next.

I did pretty good as I only got confused or forgetful of the dance moves a few times.  Contra dances have a small number of dance moves with each dance being a different combination of some of the moves.   We had a caller to help people learn/walk through the moves for the particular dance before the dance started, then they called the moves during the dance.  We also had several performers playing live music.  They had a good sound for only two musicians.

We didn't stay for the whole dance as Tammy had her fill of dancing.  After the intermission where we saw the swing dancers perform I got only one more dance in.  Tammy wouldn't dance anymore and a woman in her 60s came and asked if I would dance with her for the next dance.  Tammy didn't mind, so I danced.

Visiting the ski resort, etc.

Saturday Tammy and I were out and about.  For us it was an early start to a full day as I wanted to attend the annual meeting for my credit union. I wanted to know how the credit union was holding up as the Flathead Valley is suffering.  January's unemployment rate for the County went up 2% to now be 14.1%.  That's not counting all people who are now working in North Dakota.  Even the credit union president mentioned North Dakota.

The meeting had lots of boring financial numbers but they had an excellent food buffet with delicious quiche, muffins and varieties of fruit.  By the end of the two hour meeting we were full.  Our temptation was not helped as we arrived late and had to sit in the back near the food.

We visited the Whitefish branch of the County library and I found a couple movies to borrow.

The day was sunny, the wind calm, and the temperature warm (low 40s F).  I had never visited the Whitefish Ski resort in the Winter so we drove up Big Mountain to the resort.  On a beautiful Saturday I expected the place to be packed and it wasn't.  I also noticed a number of condos were empty.

We spent a little time around the chalet watching the skiers and snowboarders.  Lots of snowboarders.  The people on the slopes tended to be on the younger side.  Inside the bar/restaurant it was crowded as it was late lunch time and people were having their burgers and beer.

 The previous photo doesn't capture the elevation change so I included the pre-stitched photos below.  When you click on the photos you can see them in a large size and get a little better understanding of the elevation change.

We stopped at the Whitefish Mountain Mall to check out the craft/gift show being held there.  Tammy wanted to check out the scene for her Homemade Gourmet business.   The craft/gift show - and the mall itself - was dead.  I think we were the only customers there. Not many people were selling craft items and it seemed most of the mall was vacant of stores, and the few that were open had no customers.  It was bad.

Just before the sun set we went for a several mile walk around the neighborhood.  In the evening we stopped at the monthly Contra dance held at the Salvation Army gym.  Tammy had never heard of or seen contra dancing.

There were lots of beginners at the dance and half the time was spent teaching the dances.  Some people got the steps faster than the others which made the dancing, once the music started, both confusing and funny.

No, we're not laughing at you.

With Tammy's fractured shoulder she couldn't participate in the dance so after an hour we left as Tammy had got the concept of contra dancing by then.

Then we watched one of the movies I had borrowed earlier, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, before crashing around midnight.

Another contra dance

Saturday night I attended another contra dance. This time they got a 'professional' caller from Missoula and also hired "Grin and Bear It" a local music band. Before the main dancing started at 7 pm they had the caller teach a workshop for local people interested in learning how to call contra dances. The caller had a wireless microphone pack and wandered about the dance floor calling out the moves.

As usual I was running late. I had to take a little time to shoo a heifer out of the feeder as she had her whole body in the feeder. She also broke another board off the bottom and half the floor dropped down (that was Sunday morning's repair project).

They were in the middle of the first dance when I arrived. Other than one waltz later I danced all the remaining dances. The male/female ratio was tilted slightly towards more women than men which benefited the men who wanted to dance.

I ended up dancing from a little after 7 pm to a little after 10 pm when the dancing ended. I can now see why they suspend dancing in the summer - it wasn't that warm of weather yet I and others were working up a sweat from all the dancing.

Most of the contra dances this night were new ones to me. A few were real fun to dance and I learned more new moves. One dance had so much spinning and twirling that when the dance ended I was wobbly. My dance partner must have felt the same way as we held on to one another for a few minutes after the dance ended to get our balanced stabilized.

Another new move I learned was called the "mad robin" as the man did a do-si-do with his female neighbor walking in front of him all the while he locked eyes with his partner on the other side of the line.

Joyce - from hiking - came to this dance too. She is unfamiliar with contra dancing. I danced with her on one dance that was a little trickier than usual. She and I goofed up so badly that the caller actually stopped the dance to go over the steps we were screwing up. I think part of our problem was in that dance the caller showed the steps but didn't have everyone walk through at least one iteration of the dance.

We weren't the only people challenged as we encountered other couples in other dances who were confused as to what to do. Fortunately in most dances you move through sub groups of four people and usually one couple knows what to do if you forget a move.

I saw a number of people I know from folk dancing and other nights of contra dancing. Fran was there and when I mentioned I planned to take some dance classes at the local college she offered to be my partner for the classes if I needed a partner to sign up.

The Romanian woman with her 3 year old son was there. It was a problem at times as he and another very young kid wandered about the dance floor and we had to watch that we didn't step on them. I don't think she was able to dance as many dances as she would have liked as she had to watch him. The caller at times got a little annoyed at the kids and tried to get them to stay along the sides and out of the way of the dancers.

This time there were more people dancing than there were last month and part of the evening we had to form two lines as one line was too long for the room. I am not sure why but people drifted off before the night was through.

Late to the dance

After eating a late lunch on Saturday I walked the pasture to check my gopher traps. I caught another one and found another trap sprung with no gopher. And I heard one gopher chirping a warning.

My trap check usually lasts an hour but I got distracted. I somewhat filled in an old area where I had burnt out a tree stump a few years ago, looked at the river now that the flow is above 500 CFS, dug around another tree stump for burning later, and discovered the strong winds from a few days ago snapped off another pine tree. It wasn't a massive tree, but - dang! - another tree down. And I haven't finished cutting the limbs off the previous fallen tree yet.

When I got back to the house I was a little surprised to find it to be 7 pm. Oh no! The folk dancing started at 7 pm and I still needed to shave and shower.

I was 45 minutes late to the dancing. There were only 10 of us dancing. Roger and his wife, now newly married, were there. Don and his wife made some cookies - which served as my supper as I hadn't time to eat before arriving. A few new people since last time. One woman was from Georgia and she was driving around the United States. I didn't talk with her much so I don't know why or her destination. She is into folk dancing and decided to attend our get together this week.

I danced most of the dances. Or tried to as the steps are harder than the contra dance steps. There is a pattern to some of the dances but I'm still not getting it. The sudden reversals in some dances throw me off. Some dances get into a pattern then the last third of the dance introduced a new pattern, which also throws me off.

But I joined the line and watched the others footwork and tried to emulate their steps. Since there wasn't enough people to form a circle I tried to be near the end of the line so as not to screw up the people after me in line. But everyone is really nice and are encouraging me, even if I feel like I have two left feet.

We learned a Scottish dance (I believe called 'Skinning the lamb') that seemed to be a cross between a folk dance and a contra dance. We stood in lines of two and had a partner and then danced with another couple. But instead of everyone dancing at once, the active (top) couple moved down the line dancing with the other couples one at a time until reaching the end of the line.

It was slow going for me as none of the steps were steps I had learned from contra dancing. I had trouble with the part where we passed right/left/right/left with another couple. Sometimes I did the lefts correctly and other times not. I was confused as I didn't know what I was doing wrong - or right.

When the dance was over they helped me practice that move and finally we figured out what I was doing right and wrong. When I was the active couple I did the lefts correctly and it was when I was an inactive couple where I did them wrong as I was starting in a different position in the foursome and I had to turn a different way when moving left. I know - clear as mud - but one doesn't always move around the person you are passing but moves in a way that forms a circle with the other people in the foursome.

Learning folk dancing is harder than contra dancing but I plan to stick with it for a while and see if I eventually catch on.

During one of the breaks between dancing a few people spoke about the national folk music festival in Butte this July. They spoke about their experiences there last year and where they stayed or camped. This is looking more and more like what I may do this year as it interests me.

Second contra dance

Last Saturday night I attended my second contra dance. I had spent the day dragging a harrow around a few of the pastures, took a shower, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then rushed off to the dance.

I got there a little after 7 pm and found a little over a dozen people there. People were still assembling. I left the requested $3 donation in a basket on a table by the entrance. This was to help pay for the rental of the place.

The organizers were thrown off a bit: there were more men than women there to dance. That apparently never happens. Because usually more woman than men want to dance it is customary to have a box of loosely tied ties for some women to wear when they dance as the man in the dance. There wasn't anything in the box for men to wear to be the woman partner in the dance. But, ya know, us guys wouldn't go for that anyway and instead would sit out that dance.

The organizers decided to have the first dance be of trios: two men and one woman. We made up five trios and they had to have one woman dance as a man in order to make the fifth trio. That confused a number of us whenever our trio danced with a trio that had this woman in it. "Oh yeah... tie. You're a man!"

Also confusing was the presence of the fifth trio. The dance was two trios facing one another. I guess the fifth trio was waiting and ready to join when it was time for new trios to meet. At the time I don't remember them explaining that.

The woman in each trio danced the do-si-do with the man to her right in the other trio. Then they danced with the man to their left in the other trio. Then each woman selected a man and danced a swing step with them. The remaining man then had to walk around and when another couple stopped swinging, form a new trio with them and then repeat the steps all over facing a new trio.

This forming a new trio was confusing as people wandered around and not all trios were quick to form and often you had one trio ready to go and then they had to find another formed trio. I was happy when the women selected me to swing with as that meant I didn't have to find a new trio, only to find a man to join us two. Some women were not used to be the one selecting a partner and were slow at doing so which also provided confusion as then the men were unsure whether to immediately wander and start looking for a new trio or wait to be selected.

Most of us were learning so it was chaos at times, but it was fun.

By the time this dance was over more people had arrived and the ratio of men to women was closer, though there still was one or two extra men that had to wait some of the dances out. I was able to find a partner for all the dances except the three waltzes. Those I am not comfortable dancing so I took those opportunities to get a drink of water, eat some of the homemade bars a few people brought, or chat with people.

In addition to the contra dances we danced one of the folk dances I had learned the week before. That helped me pick it up quicker this second time although I had to not always take the clues from the woman across from me as she would get some steps wrong. This was the woman who had first asked me to dance a few weeks ago in Whitefish, and was more experienced with the contra dances. This was her first time dancing this particular dance.

The contra dances tend to follow similar patterns with a few variations in steps between the dances. I learned a few new moves: "boxing the square" and the "weave" among them. I don't think the caller described the "weave" very well as some of us were confused on how to weave. I was dancing with the Romanian woman at that point and she was just as new - and confused - as I. We muddled our way through it and were kind of getting it a little bit by the end. Another couple, who knew how to do the "weave", at the end of the dance took time to fully explain the move to me and we practiced. Now I get it.

There was another woman who was wearing a brightly colored long flowing dress that flared out when she spun around. And she liked to spin even putting a spin in when "do-si-doeing". She was fairly heavyset but very light on her feet. I first encountered her when she was a part of another couple and I would get momentarily distracted when she spun around. So I later asked her to be my partner in another dance. I figured I would get my fill of her spinning and become accustomed to it. It worked. And she was a good dancer.

I also liked swinging my partner and preferred dancing with the women who seemed like to swing. Some women seemed to like to spin and others were older and maybe more fragile or tentative dancers. So I had to learn and try to figure out and adjust the swinging of my partner. As one ends up rotating through the line when contra dancing one has to be nimble in adjusting when quickly meeting a new partner.

There was plenty of swinging in some dances and a few times I got a little light headed. But that may have helped my dancing as being slightly off balance at times distracted me from letting my head get in the way of my dancing.

A number of women - usually the single ones - praised my dancing, and when I told them was only the second time I contra danced, they claimed I was picking up the steps quickly. I think they were being overly generous with their praise.

Four or five of the people I had met folk dancing the previous week were there.

I met a Romanian woman who was a single mom of a three year old boy. Initially she danced with him. So when she became one of the couples in your little subgroup it made it a challenge when dancing with her as she was also holding on to one of his hands. Fortunately for most of the dances he wandered around the room by himself and usually didn't get in the way. When the last contra dance was about to start he was tired and he began to take off his clothes. He was quick at removing his clothes and was down to his diaper and about to pull it down and off by the time his mother got to him. She had to forgo the last contra dance as she had to dress him again. Everyone got a big laugh when he was doing this.

She wasn't dancing when I came back in the room for the final waltz so I chatted with her. I only had an opportunity to say a few words with her previously while dancing and I had a feeling she was from another country. She came from Romania to marry a man from Whitefish but that did not work out so she is a single mom now. "Me-HIGH-la" is her name - which is different and may be the reason I remembered it and few of the other names.

The dancing ended at 10 pm. The three hours passed quickly. At the end Missy passed out some brochures about the national folk festival that will be held again in Butte, Montana this July 10-12. The festival is free. Missy and a few others attended last year and said they had a great time.

Folk dancing

Tonight, Saturday, I went folk dancing. I thought I was going contra dancing but I discovered after I arrived that they meet next Saturday. So much for the contra web site being accurate. Apparently the contra group has been infrequent this winter due to insurance concerns and other organizational issues.

The Saturdays that the contra dance group doesn't use the Salvation Army Church the folk dance group does.

The group is small, apparently around a dozen regular members. There were an equal number of men and women. Tonight there were ten people there. The group was all excited as last weekend most of them attended a folk dance class in Calgary, Alberta. So tonight they were going over many of the dances they had learned. That was good in that they went slow as they were learning/re-learning. And bad in that it was a bit stop-and-go as they were trying to figure out the steps.

For music one person brought his laptop computer with many folk dance tunes as mp3 files. Add in very good speakers and the music was great. A few times they replayed the song in order to do the dance over.

When I arrived they were in the middle of a dance and Marvin came over and talked with me and explained things. Marvin is a pretty neat old guy. He looks much younger than his age. He is 85 this year and looks and moves like he is 70. On top of it he recently had a stroke that weakened his right side but seems to have quickly recovered and is back dancing.

Also at the dance was the husband of the first woman I had danced with at the contra dance in Whitefish as few weeks ago. His wife wasn't there.

Everyone was very friendly and helpful and encouraging. After a bit I tried to join. Initially I would dance behind everyone so I could watch and mimic what they were doing. Usually I joined the half circle and tried to dance along while watching others around me. It was a bit tricky as I would be a half step behind everyone.

I still suffer from being left-handed. That is my explanation why I often want to lead with the wrong foot. Also, I am so used to being on my own and doing my own thing it is a challenge to tailor my movements to others.

The first dance I joined was tricky. There were two rows of people, and even after they taught me the steps, I found myself mimicking the person across from me when I needed to mimic the people beside me. I ended up doing part of the dance moving left when I should be moving right and right when I should be moving left. Of course it took me until near the end of the dance before I started getting the hang of it - and then the dance was over.

I learned (or am learning) a move used in a number of the dances: the grapevine. It is not a difficult move but for a person ''dance challenged'" I am still working on it.

Most of the dances this night were from Eastern Europe as the Calgary dance class was by a person who had recently been to Bulgaria. We danced a number of dances from Bulgaria, Albania, and Turkey. The dances seemed to be variations of one another and I think once I get the hang of it I will learn various dances quicker. Although the Israeli dances seem to have a sudden a reverse pattern that throws me.

We took a break halfway through to have cake and ice cream. It was Roger's 57th birthday. Also, he and another woman dancing (forgot her name) are getting married this coming Thursday. As we ate the cake and ice cream the group shared their various border crossing stories from when they went to Calgary.

They were all very encouraging and said I was doing good for my first time - even though I don't think I was doing that good.

The dancing went from 7:30 pm to 10 pm. I think I may attend a few other folk dance sessions and see if I can get the hang of this type of dancing.

Dancing

Last Friday night I went dancing. Yes... you heard right... dancing! For those who know me well, know I do not know how to dance and therefore don't. I had a couple former girlfriends try to get-me-to / teach-me-to dance, but that went nowhere fast. I love watching others dance, love old Fred Astaire movies, and watch the TV show, Dancing with the Stars, regularly.

Last week my father's friend Jackie called and invited me to come to a dance being held as the Whitefish Senior Citizen's center. A couple had put together a dancing event there for all ages with live music and this was the second year they did so. Jackie said there was a woman who would teach me to dance and Jackie encouraged me to attend. Jackie remembered how well my dad danced.

Even though I woke up that morning stiff and sore from the previous day's tree trimming, my cross country skiing that day had loosened me up so I decided to attend. A bit reluctantly as I know I can't dance. But I had told Jackie that I would attend.

I arrived some time after they started. About two to three dozen people were there with kids and grand kids. I quickly found Jackie who had just finished a dance. After we greeted one another Jackie went to check on something and the next I knew a woman asked me to dance. I thought this was the woman Jackie had told me about so I couldn't say my normal "no thanks", though I did initially try to get out of it by telling her I can't dance.

"It's easy. It's a waltz and just three steps. You can do it."

Three steps, eh? The next I knew she grabbed my hands and we started. I won't say "started to dance" as my brain (as usual!) got in the way of my feet and nothing worked well. You'd think three steps would be easy. Not for me! I couldn't get it. I felt totally uncoordinated. But this woman, Karen, was patient and encouraging and told me not to get frustrated - which I quickly was becoming.

Over and over I tried. Eventually I closed my eyes as no matter how much I looked at my feet they would not do the right thing. Then I decided this was useless and I couldn't do any worse so I shut my brain off and stopped thinking.

"Now you're starting to get it."

"Huh? Really?"

I had no clue how I was doing. It sure would be nice to know what I was doing right.

Then just as I was starting to get it the song ended.

I was looking around for Jackie when Karen asked me to join the group for the next dance.

"Ummm... Umm..."

"Come on. I know the steps and I will help you."

So... I joined the group. It was a contra dance whose name I don't know. I was overwhelmed with learning the steps much less remembering the dance's name.

If you click on the contra dance link above you can get the details on how the dancing is done so I won't go into all the details. But generally, this is what happened:

A leader, known as a caller, will teach each individual dance just before the music for that dance begins. During this introductory "walk-through" period, participants learn the dance by walking through the steps and formations, following the caller's instructions. The caller gives the instructions orally, and sometimes augments them with demonstrations of steps by experienced dancers in the group. The walk-through usually proceeds in the order of the moves as they will be done with the music; in some dances, the caller may vary the order of moves during the dance, a fact that is usually explained as part of the caller's instructions.

After the walk-through, the music begins and the dancers repeat that sequence some number of times before that dance ends, often 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the length of the contra lines. At the end of each dance, the dancers thank their partners.

Contra dancing seems to be easier than couple dancing. Since one is dancing with four people (a set) within the line the dancing sometimes is more moving around than 'dancing'. With four people I was more trying to be in the right spot and remember which spot to move to next. If you didn't know you can look at the others or take various clues from what they are doing.

This is not to say that it can't be complicated. A later contra dance had me and my partner (and many others) confused for over half the dance. The dance started out similar to an earlier dance but it was a combination of the caller not accurately and explicitly calling out the moves during the walk through, along with a few more complicated steps, that had a number of us confused. I was dancing with Fran at that time and we started out as an active couple and in our confusion we ended up waiting out a rotation twice as our attempt to re-enter a set and the line got us back out when we made a wrong move.

The line ranged from eight to well over a dozen couples. Some times it seemed as if over a third of the people were young kids. That made it a little tricky when you had to duck under the raised arms of the other couple in your set when you move on to join another couple to make a new set. Do the limbo anyone?

The music was a half dozen people playing live on fiddles, piano, guitar, accordion and whatever. The ages ranged from adults to kids. Jackie knew the woman playing piano. The band had a few false starts so I don't know how regularly they played as a band, but you know I was so concentrating on the steps I wasn't conscious of the music half the time.

The contra dance tradition in North America is to change partners for every dance, while in the United Kingdom typically people dance with the same partner the entire evening. One who attends an evening of contra dances in North America does not need to bring his or her own partner. In the short break between individual dances, women and men invite each other to dance.

I didn't know the above while I was at the dance. Initially I danced the first couple of dances with Karen as she was encouraging and supportive and attractive. Then during a contra dance she introduced her husband and granddaughter as we progressed to dancing another couple in a new set.

I thought... What?! Did I miss seeing a wedding ring? I don't think I saw one.... Whatever.

It was a shame as she was about my age and attractive and nice. She also skis (both downhill and cross country) and hikes and backpacks. She and her husband had been up on Big Mountain earlier that day downhill skiing.

Oh well. That's life.

After the dance I spoke with her husband. We talked briefly about his travels in Tibet in 2000 to visit Buddhist monasteries. I got the impression he may be Buddhist but never got the chance to ask him directly.

It turns out - to my surprise - I knew several other women at the dance. One woman I knew from when I served as an election judge as she worked as a judge in another precinct in the same building. I don't think she recognized me. I didn't recognize her until halfway through the dance.

The other woman I knew recognized me first. Fran hiked with Leah's group one time (Avalanche Lake) when I was with Leah's group. Once Fran spoke I recognized her New England accent. So I danced most of the rest of the dances with Fran.

I also danced a Serbian dance that the group did. In this dance everyone held hands and danced in a circle. So you really didn't have a partner. I spent most of my time watching the lead dancer teaching us the dance for clues on how to move. Dance a few steps to the right forward, turn quickly dance a few steps in reverse, the circle moves in and you stomp your feet, moves back out, moves in and you clap your hands once and shout "Miya! Miya! Miya!" then repeat the steps. Apparently it was one of the little girl's birthday that day and her name was Miya.

By the end of the evening I stopped thinking and loosened up and was having a good time. I still won't admit that what I was doing was actually dancing.

The last dance of the night was a waltz and Jackie then had the woman who was organizing the event show me how to dance. At first she tried to teach me how to dance while holding a young grandchild in one arm but I was having trouble with the "one, two, threes" so she handed the child to Jackie to hold while she concentrated on helping me. She had to take the lead in the beginning to show me how it was done. Once I started getting the hang of it (stop thinking!) I took over and led. Then she wanted me to vary the locations where I stepped - back, forward, sideways a bit. My brain was getting overloaded which probably helped my 'dancing'. She claimed I was dancing and doing well but again I didn't know what I was doing. Then the song was over.

The night went by quickly and the dancing was over before I knew it. I was just getting started.

Fran, Karen, and a few other women encouraged me to come attend their regular contra dance nights at the Salvation Army Church. But nobody was sure which day it was in April though they sure made an effort to find out for me.

Also there is a regular folk dance night at the Salvation Army Church. The next one was the next (Saturday) night but I already had plans to attend a lecture on a climb last year of K2.

It seems as if there is a shortage of men who dance so the women sure encourage guys to come and dance. They were all flattering me on how tall and handsome I was, and 'aren't I having fun?' and 'see, you can dance well'. It was all good for my ego. I did have fun and I play to attend more dances. Too bad this wasn't around when I lived in Minnesota. I had several girlfriends who loved to dance, and I didn't dance. Looking on the Internet, even now the closest contra dancing events to Rochester are up in the Twin Cities.

After the dancing was over Jackie and I went out to have a bite to eat at the Red Caboose downtown Whitefish. They had a wonderful coconut meringue pie. I love coconut!

I didn't get home until well after 11 pm. Skiing and dancing...it was a long day and I went right to bed. I suppose it is good I don't currently have a girlfriend as, well, with my good mood my busy day would have been somewhat longer.