By KAREN PARKER
County Line Publisher Emeritus
NOTE: Due to the Aug. 28 flood, which severely damaged the Ontario Community Hall, the event has been moved to the Brookwood Junior High School gymnasium.
Hang on to your hat and polish up your shoes. You are about to learn to contra dance. Say what?
Is it square dancing? Is it line dancing?
No, it is neither, although it shares someelements with both. But contra fans would tell you it is far better more fun than either.
If you have not been introduced yet, your opportunity will come from 7–9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20. It’s all part of Ontario’s celebration of the 80th birthday of the Ontario Community Hall.
This is how Wikipedia defines contra dancing:
“Contra dance is a folk dance made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish, French dance styles in the 17th century. Sometimes described as New England folk dance or Appalachian folk dance, contra dances can be found around the world and have much popularity in North America and the United Kingdom where weekly or monthly dances and annual dance weekends are common.”
Unlike other forms of dance, contra requires no special clothing, shoes or even a partner. Seven basic moves that are easy to learn will cause you to produce a passable performance. Most of them — aleman and do-si-do — are familiar calls.
A flatfoot dancer in the Appalachian clogging tradition, Sue Hulsether of Viroqua will lead the calling. She danced for seven years with the internationally known Wild Goose Chase Cloggers and dances with Shoefly! of Gays Mills, Wis. Hulsether says she has “taught people of all ages to enjoy the rhythmic delights of folk dancing and clogging.”
The event is being sponsored by Scott and Marla Lind, members of the Ontario Community Club. Food will be served, and all funds will go toward the community hall renovations.
There is plenty of information on contra dancing on the web. A Bing video of contra dancing in Viroqua can be found at tinyurl.com/ya6sncp3.