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It's hard to do justice to contradance in words. It's an American folk dance that is still very much alive and evolvingborn during the colonial era from the more formal courtship dances best known today from Jane Austen movies. It's not a square danceLike Latin, these old English Country Dances persist, are pleasant, though many of the moves but they are reminiscent of square. It's not a line dancedead language, though a ''set'' consists of two lineswith an emphasis on doing traditional dances in an old, formal manner. It is more like an intricateBy contrast contradance, moving knot the young and vigorous offspring of dancersEnglish Country, in which you by contrast, is still very much alive and a partner progress down the dance hall and back again, dancing a series of ''figures'' with each couple you encounter on the wayevolving.

After choosing a partner and lining up 'across the set' from that partner==How Contra is Danced Today, a [[#The Caller|caller]] walks the crowd through the moves. These moves permute from dance to dance, creating different patterns of movement, but cycling once through the dance (or 32 measures of the music, which repeats to fit the dance), you always find yourself and your partner at the beginning again, only with a different couple to dance with. Williams ==

Because this is the section most relevant to Williams, it will precede the section on [[Contradance#(A Rough) History of Contradance|history]], but you may wish to read that section before this one to get a fuller picture.  At Williams, [[Dancing Folk]] hosts about one dance a month. All these dances have a live band, usually our 'house band', [[Rude Cider]]. Once or twice a semester, though the club brings in a professional band, which adds a whole new level of energy to the event. After choosing a partner and lining up 'across the set' from that partner, a [[#The Caller|caller]] teaches the ~8 moves ("figures") that will be danced by all in the dance, and talks the crowd through these moves while they try them out together ("The Walkthrough"). There are dozens of traditional figures out there, and more being invented, and each dance is a new selection and arrangement of them, but all contradances have one key thing in common: on full time through the dance (64 beats of [[#The Music|music]]) puts you and your partner at the beginning again, only with a different couple to dance with. This may seem sound a little complicated, but all levels of experience can and do dance together and still have tons of fun. Participating demands no grace or poise (these can be added later), and some describe it not as dancing, but as getting yourself to the right spot at the right time, or walking around the dance floor. Really, if [[Sean A. Carollo '07|Sean]] Unlike just about every other kind of dance you can do itname, you can do footwork is quite optional: it. Footwork can be just as simple as walking (preferably in time to the music). But , but more experienced dancers add plenty of style, finesse, and variations to test themselves and thrill their partners. The traditonal group-based style of contra and the attitude taken at Williams make learning contra easy here. At Williams, the caller teaches every dance, start to finish, no exception. Dancers of all levels of experience are present at every contra, and are welcomed. Unlike couple dances such as [[swing]] or salsa, contradance places each dancer in near-constant contact with many other people, and every dancer will dance with everyone else before the end of the dance. It is also the social norm to change partners between each dance, and never to refuse one person's requst to contradance for another's (though there is always a waltz or two you can save for that special someone). Finally, the callers of Dancing Folk have long made it their focus to teach dancing, and err on the side of simple rather than complex in general, planning out a series of dances for the night that progress from easy to challenging. All these factors speed learning for all, and keep the group together. ==(A Rough) History of Contradance== Once upon a time, the caller of a contra might call out "Longaway for as many as will," and the dancers would respond by making two lines, starting at the caller and stretching back to the "bottom" of the hall. A man would choose a partner and lead her over to the forming "set": a double line of all men in one, and all ladies in the other, partners across from each other. '''Section in progress''' How things have changed.One line would be all of men, and across from them a line of women only, each man across from his partner for that dance.  == What is Contradance? == It's not a square dance, though many of the moves are reminiscent of square. It's not a line dance, though a ''set'' consists of two lines. It is more like an intricate, moving knot of dancers, in which you and a partner progress down the dance hall and back again, dancing a series of ''figures'' with each couple you encounter on the way.