KICKING UP HEELS
Partner up and recall how you use to twirl around as a kid.
It's contra dance time on a Friday night in Charleston
Charleston Gazette
Thursday March 23, 2000

By MaryWade Burnside
STAFF WRITER

Steve Bennett, a bit of a Patch Adams look-alike with a mustache and long hair, gives instruction on spinning to contra dancers in a church basement gym.

He wants partners - whom he calls ladies and gents - to hold hands and twirl around with abandon. "Remember when you were a kid and you would just spin around?" he asks.

In a bit, the music - on this night by the Trusty House Band - will begin, and dancers in two lines will begin to make their way up the room, doing do-si-dos to the right and allemandes to the left, until each couple makes their way to the end of the line.

Then they have to go in the other direction, essentially dos si do-ing or whatever moves constitute that particular dance.

The Friends of Old Time Music and Dance hold several contra dances a year, usually, as on this night, at First Presbyterian Church in the activities building.

And even though other types of dance, such as square and country line dancing, abound in the area, contra dance does not come from Appalachia at all.

"It's more widespread, but it's mostly from New England," said Paul Epstein, fiddler for the Trusty House Band. "Now it's more widespread throughout the U.S."

In fact, entire Web sites link up dancers and callers all over the country. Bennett himself has traveled from Lexington, Ky. And even some of the dancers have come from the next county - or the next state - just to spend an evening following Bennett's orders to "star right and thank your partner."

"It's an obsession," said Ellen Marshall, a therapist who has driven down from Middleport, Ohio, north of Gallipolis. "It's a really good addiction. It feels good to dance and to twirl, and I love the music."

One Web site (www.io.com/ contradance/) likes to make clear that contra dance has nothing to do with country line dancing (or Oliver North, for that matter). The name comes from "English country dancing," the Web site proffers, but the name got convoluted when the French wanted to claim it and redubbed the style as "contredans," which means "opposites dance."

Actually, that's kind of what happens during a contra dance. Two people partner up and generally remain that way throughout the dance. But, with the help of the caller, each dancer will dos si do or balance or allemande with just about everybody in the line.

In fact, the dancers often resemble a moveable quilt, especially when in groups of four, they join hands, arms outstretched to the front, to form a "star."

"There's something about the pattern - the feel of the patterning," said stained glass artist Rick Gallagher. "There's a magic to it when it works out correctly."

As for the quilt connotation: "I've been to dances where you can sit above and watch," he said. "It's beautiful."

A lot of the dancers have hit the road in search of other contra dances. "There are people who might dance every week and go to dance festivals and dance weekends," Epstein said.

In fact, next winter, contra dancers

can spend a week in Antigua dancing to Wild Asparagus, THE premiere contra dance band.

That's not unusual. Dancer Martha Ballman had planned to be contra dancing in Costa Rica on this night instead of at First Presby.

She ended up making plans with her parents instead.

"But whenever I go to California, we dance in Brentwood and we've gone to St. Croix in the Virgin Islands for dance weeks," she said.

Ballman even met her husband, caller Steve Ballman, through contra dancing. "I like the socialization," she said. "And whether people are grandparents or children, everybody dances equally. "

The Trusty House Band generally plays just for contra dances.

"We didn't feel like we were a band, " said Epstein, whose bandmates include bass player Will Carter, guitarist Hunt Charach and mandolin player John Longwell.

"We were just the people who came and played. When we needed something to put on the flier, we said, ‘Put whatever you want. How about Trusty House Band?'"

"They're such a strong band," said Bennett, who has his own dance group in Lexington where the band plays about once a year. "They can be a highly sought after band for people who are into dancing hard and fast."

Often they play for a slower group of folks. On this Friday night, Bennett goes through all the moves in a particular dance, with names like "Duck Soup" and "Green-Eyed Girl," before the band strikes up a song and the dance begins. Bennett then continues to call out all the moves throughout the dance.

For more advanced dancers, however, the caller drops out after a few rounds and the dancers continue on their own.

"We were in Lexington last year," said contra dancer Chuck Mozingo. "There were 250 dancers, all of them intermediate to advanced, and it's amazing. When you see that many people doing it who are that good, it's just a whirl of color."

But most contra dancers point out how easy beginners will find contra dancing, and how easy it can be to find a contra dance no matter where you travel.

"Most communities have contra dancing, " Ballman said. "And you can participate. You pay four dollars at the door and have a great evening."

FOOTMAD's next contra dance will be at 7:30 p.m. April 7, with Jake Krack & Friends playing and caller Becky McKenzie.

The Trusty House Band will play again on May 5, in the Activities Building of First Presbyterian Church, 14 Broad St. Admission $5. Call 344-4314.

To contact staff writer MaryWade Burnside, use email or call 348-1230.