How to Be a Great Contra Dancer
- 1). Skate through the dance by gliding with play in your knees. Feel the floor rather than trying to escape it by hopping or skipping. A leather-soled shoe will help you feel the skate-like quality of the walking step.
- 2). Take one skate per beat of music. This is a steady, quick skate, so keep your steps underneath you and do not let your feet get ahead of you.
- 3). Anticipate the ending of moves by "starting to stop" prior to the last beat of the musical phrase. For example, if the move requires you to "be stopped" on eight and ready for the next move on the following beat of one, you must prepare to stop several beats ahead of the final beat. To help with this, sit out a dance and observe how the caller gives the command in advance for the next move. You, too, must feel the next move coming before it arrives.
- 4). Feel the centrifugal force of the swing by rounding your arms in your ballroom-position swing. Keep your shoulders as parallel to your partner's shoulders as possible. In this position, imagine that you and your partner encircle the force as if you were a two-body container. The force presses you both out against the periphery of the container. This image will help assure that you are giving weight in your swing and getting it from your partner.
- 5). Put life in your arms by holding them with the muscles around your scapula, rather than gripping the arm muscles themselves. This will keep your arms feeling full of life, not heavily weighed down by concrete or limply waterlogged.
- 6). Focus your eyes on other dancers, not only to ward off dizziness, but to witness them with respect. Your gaze reflects your respect of another dancer's energy level, age, beauty, lack of beauty, physical ability, and preferences. It reflects your self-respect.
- 7). Ask someone to dance who you would not normally consider "your kind of people." Imagine the surprise on the person's face when you extend yourself. Imagine the new neuro-pathway created in your own brain when you come out of your box. If the person turns you down, forget it. You are at your best as a contra dancer when you put yourself into making the dance a community experience.
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