By Annette Hinkle
Do-si-do, allemande right, ladies chain, circle left, pass through and promenade. They’re unusual terms to the average man or woman on the street. But at a good old fashioned contra dance, this is the language of fancy footwork and good times.
For the uninitiated, contra dancing can best be described as New England square dancing. On the first Saturday of every month for 15 years or so now, the Long Island Traditional Music Associations (LITMA) has hosted a contra dance at the Water Mill Community House. The venue attracts a group of faithful twirlers who gather for an evening of clean fun and lots of exercise. Though they are invited to give it a try, kids who aren’t interested in dancing head down to the basement where they can run out their energy in their own, unique way. The next dance is this Saturday, December 4 and will be led by Dave Harvey, a popular caller and founder of New York City Barn Dance which holds regular dances in Greenwich Village.
When asked how he describes contra dancing to beginners Harvey notes, “I call it barn dancing – it’s all traditional dances from the Anglo, Irish Scottish background — whether it’s square, contra or big circle dance. One thing it’s not is international dancing.”
A caller, like Harvey, is someone who leads the dancers by giving them instructions (using the terms above) thereby creating a figure sort of like a quilt when all the dancers do the same thing at the same time. Dancers are paired as couples at the start of the dance and change partners throughout the course of a song. There’s no gender bias either — ladies are invited to take the roles of men if there’s a shortage.
Though it’s a tradition from earlier centuries, there has been a resurgence in the world of barn dances in recent years, and Harvey notes that in some places, there is a modern, sophisticated urban contra dance movement where only experienced dancers are welcome on to the floor.
“That’s not my approach at all to the dance,” says Harvey “And it’s part of the reason I’ll spend hours going out to Water Mill. I find that completely absent. If I get 50 newcomers, it’s fine.”
The general difference between contra dancing and square dancing is the formation. Contra dancing often features long lines of dancers and is specific to New England. But when he’s calling, Harvey often mixes up the evening by also offering square dances that are more southern in tradition. After all, he notes, it’s Long Island and almost as close to Maryland as New England.
“Nobody seems to care,” says Harvey. “As long as the band can play, I’ll do anything.”
Music is a key contributor the energy of a barn dance, and the band slated for this Saturday’s dance is Fireside featuring Bennett Konesni, a 15th generation farmer at Sylvester Manor on Shelter Island. Konesni is also a musician and plays guitar, fiddle and banjo, and is joined in Fireside by mandolin player Jeff Lewis and fiddle player Mia Friedman. The three met at a fiddle camp in Maine in 2007, and play together whenever the opportunity arises.
Harvey’s own musical tastes leaned toward punk rock and metal in his formative years — hardly what you might expect from a barn dance caller. But while in college in New England, Harvey met Dudley Laufman, a renown caller who had been leading dances since 1948.
“He’s in his 80s now and was doing 300 dances a year until he was in his 70s. He really informed my style,” says Harvey. “His style is really about a dance party, not a dance class. If you see it’s taking a lot of teaching, you don’t do that dance. You do something people can learn quickly.”
That’s a philosophy Harvey sticks by to this day.
“I try to keep it high energy, with a diversity in the formation — be it square, circle or contra — make things easy and have people dancing right away.”
Gauging the crowd is a big part of a caller’s job, and because people are coming to the dance with a range of experience, it’s important to keep the pacing just right. For that reason, Harvey does a lot of unphrased dances, which means he will let the figure roll until the dancers have it down pat and are ready to move on.
“When people are ready for the next figure, I’ll call another in line with the music,” he says. “But if it takes 24 beats instead of 16, I’ll let it go as long as it needs.”
Harvey finds that the key to a good time for all is to stay flexible.
“This is not my opportunity to go out and control a crowd, but inject some organization into the event that may be needed,” he explains. “I try to do what they like at a tempo that works for them and not have my own agenda.”
“I try and keep ego out of it as much as possible. It’s really a social event,” adds Harvey who notes that there are always first timers who also deserve to have as much fun as the regulars. “It’s not a place to come show off how sophisticated your skills are. There are skills involved but it’s a dance party.”
LITMA’s Traditional New England Barn Dance is Saturday, December 4, 2010 from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Water Mill Community House on Montauk Highway. New or rusty dancers are invited to come at 7:45 p.m. for a refresher course on the figures. Singles and beginners are welcome. Admission is $14.
Top: Dancers in a ring (Cristina Castro photo).
Middle: Dave Harvey calling a dance.
