OLD-FASHIONED GOOD TIME: NO COSTUME, EXPERIENCE OR DATE ARE NECESSARY AT CONTRA DANCE

Dancers get a chance every fourth Friday of the month to learn contra dancing at Parker Dance Studio.

An old-fashioned barn dance at the end of the 20th century?

Well, why not? say members of Cape Friends of Old Time Music and Dance.

The barn dance, or "contra dance," is a healthy, inexpensive form of entertainment. And in this age of recreational options which cater to the individual rather than group, a contra dance offers an opportunity to enjoy the company of other people.

Contra dances are based on simple patterns new dancers can learn in an evening and generally are accompanied by live, old-time or New England-style fiddle music.

Comparisons to square-dancing are inevitable since both are descended from European country dance forms, but at a contra dance no date, costume or experience are necessary.

Even the barn is optional. Dances are held every fourth Friday of the month in Parker Dance Studio on the Southeast Missouri State University Campus.

"I love it because it's a healthy way of connecting with other people -- men and women," said Judy Hubbard, one of the founding members of the music society.

Hubbard said she learned to contra dance when she lived in Maine about 20 years ago.

A native of Cape Girardeau, she said "an adventure" drew her to Maine but family ties brought her home to stay.

She said she missed dancing when she returned to Missouri. In 1983, when a friend of Hubbard's found a newspaper article about a contra dancing group in St. Louis, she tracked them down.

Soon, dancers and callers and sometimes 30 to 50 people at a time were travelling to Cape Girardeau to dance, she said.

Though attendance dropped off in the early '90s, it's been picking up recently.

Local guitarist Max Drake said he enjoys the barn dances because they help preserve "the old music."

He and his wife, fiddler Ann Drake, play for the Cape Girardeau barn dances. Joe Surdyk of Carbondale is the caller.

The fiddler, working with the caller, runs the show musically, Max Drake said.

"Some nights, there are a lot of newcomers. Other nights, everybody knows what they're doing," Drake said.

"~This is the first time we've been up," said a pooped Tom Froemsdorf at last month's barn dance.

Froemsdorf sat out a few rounds with his daughter Johanna, 10.

He said he'd been dancing for two hours.

Froemsdorf was looking for a family activity for his brood, so he and his wife, Liz, brought four of their kids to the barn dance.

He said the kids, ages seven to 19, didn't want to come at first.

"They thought it sounded kinda square," he said.

But on the dance floor, Liz, two teen-agers and the youngest child were still whooping it up with the group.

"We'll probably come again and bring a lot of our friends," Froemsdorf said.

Drake said it's hard to predict what each dance will bring. There is no typical barn dance or contra dancer, he said.

At each event, dancers of all shapes, sizes, ages and experience take the floor. One night, even a surly teen-age boy was caught up in the dance and began smiling, his slouching dignity momentarily forgotten in a boisterous do se do.

Hubbard said that's what contra dancing is all about: connection and camaraderie.

"You dance with everybody in the room, get hot and sweaty and just have fun," she said.

All the moves are taught and demonstrated before each dance. When randomly paired dancers become more familiar with the calls, things really start swinging, Hubbard said.

"What happens sometimes ... the caller will quit calling and everybody is right on the beat and it's like the whole group is dancing together. It's hard to describe but it's wonderful," Hubbard said.

The next barn dance will be held from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Friday at the Parker Dance Studio. Admission is a $3 donation.