Social dances still popular with people of all ages

The music starts up with a lively beat — guitar, banjo and fiddle. What people call toe-tapping music.

It's Saturday night and the Cape Friends of Traditional Music and Dance are lining up to do-si-do and allemand to lively tunes from The Old Cornlickers. It's not a square dance; the group is Contra dancing.

Contra dancing is an American folk dance that dates back to the days of early America, borrowing from British and French styles of dance. It's done in two lines of people facing each other. They'll break off into groups of four for their do-si-dos and swings, and move up and down the line for the duration of the song. In the end, everyone dances with everyone else.

John and Kathy Coffman call out the movements and keep the dancers going, spinning, twirling, and if they've been Contra dancing a while, stomping and adding their own embellishments. By the middle of the session, everyone is smiling.

"It's the most fun I have all month," said John Boyd, who has been Contra dancing since 1982. "You can't dance without enjoying yourself."

Many people who regularly come to the Contra dances say the dance is not only fun and easy, but it's also a very social dance. It's a good way to meet people and make friends, and everybody dances. There are no wall flowers in Contra dancing.

"I like the fact that it's active," said Judy Bradley who comes to dance from St. Louis. "You're not just sitting in a chair watching someone else do something. You are there and you are a part of it."

Bradley said she discovered Contra Dane in the 1970s when she was living in Maine. Like so many others who enjoy the dance, Bradley said that whenever she visits another community she searches for a Contra dance. She knows that she can walk in, join in the dance and have a good time even if she didn't know a soul when she walked in the door.

"You dance not just with partners but with everybody in the group," Bradley said.

Bradley said she likes that she can feel comfortable at a Contra dance, that no one is going to hit on her or make her feel uncomfortable. People go there to dance and even if one comes with a spouse or a friend, they don't dance exclusively with the person they came with. But sometimes, it's a good way to meet someone special.

John and Kathy Coffman met because of a Contra dance, John said. They've been married now for five years and are still dancing together.

The dance appeals to all ages, from children to senior citizens and everyone in between. Families come to Contra dances. Chelsea Criddle, a senior at Southeast Missouri State University, came with a friend to the September dance because her parents have been Contra dancing for several years. It was her first dance. She wanted to see what it was all about and, if she hadn't come that night she would have had to do homework.

"That was part of my motivation," she said

She quickly caught on to the steps during the beginners session offered before every dance, and spent most of the evening dancing with her toddler-age brother on her hip. Contra dancing requires no special shoes or clothes. You don't need a partner. It's easy to do. If you can walk and follow simple instructions, you can Contra dance. And the music is just so catchy. It's had not to want to get up and dance.

"You don't realize it, but it's a lot of exercise," John Coffman said.

This article first appeared in the October 2008 issue of The Best Years, a magazine that shows life only gets sweeter with age. TBY appears in the Southeast Missourian the first Monday of each month.