Mid-Missouri Traditional Dancers

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  What is there not to like?  I mean, I guess if you don't like church basement gymnasiums-turned-into-hoe-downs, then you might get irritated.  Or if you don't like physical activity which involves contra (group) dancing with other people you may or may not know, you might be a little squeemish.  But if you had that one square-dance lesson in 3rd grade and it still brings fond memories, then this might be the antidote to your inner child tantrums.  
  
  The deal is, they are a group that meets on the odd fridays of the month (literally, the 1st and 3rd fridays of the months) for most of the year, and it involves contra dancing.  This is sort of like square dancing, but with the exchange of partners all the way down the line.  This makes it interesting, though, and it's sort of mathematically elegant, and I don't know how the caller (like the DJ) actually keeps it all straight.  Oh yea, there's a person on the stage (usually with the band, more on that later), who will call out what moves you do, and there's a total of like 10 basic moves.  When I went, there were both old and young folks going at it like it was nothing.  So it's not brain surgery, but I have to say I was getting a little sea-sick after my first few dances, and so don't over-do-it at first.  
  
  And there's this live band, usually playing a simple tune, bluegrass-inspired, maybe a fiddle, banjo, guitar and the like.  And the songs last for like 10 minutes I guess, and there's lots of twirling of yourself and other people and sometimes they twirl you and you twirl them.  You are paired up at the beginning man-woman, and if there are not enough men (evidently they never run out of women), they will put a necktie around one of the extra females so there's no confusion who is who in the dance-pairing.  And so the song starts and the caller starts calling, and you eventually end up doing a little dance move with either your partner, your neighbor, or your neighbor's neighbor, but somehow you always end up with your original partner in the end.  And if you are always doing the move to the right, once you get back to your partner, they will figure out a way to start twirling to your left, and they'll go back through the procession of dance-partner-exchanges again.  Whew.
  
  This may sound a little repetitive, or boring, but it's how it was done back in the days before the internet, in fact, probably before cars.  Folks needed some time away from the farm and they needed an excuse to socialize, and so communities would organize these sorts of barn dances and folks would get to know each other face-to-face.  And you literally get to know their face.  One of the moves is called a swing (see this link for a brief desription:  <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tftm.org%2Fcontra.html&s=4336aa5fe44122aa59d6edea1ed5f5cf85bd37a95de79b5115548ae62387d6ef" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.tftm.org/cont…</a>), and the man will hold the woman in a traditional formal dance position, and they both twirl around each other to the beat of the music.  And they can exchange a little hello, or just be friendly and enjoy the twirling; either way you get a good look at who you are dancing with.
  
  Overall it's a nice group and if you like you can just enjoy the music, but be ready to fork over the cash ($7 if you're 25 or over, or else $4 if you're under 25 or are a student) and someone will probably ask you if you would like to dance.  Beginner lessons start at 7:05pm; if you are new or forgetfull, they will go over the basics for about 15-20 minutes.  The the real dancing begins.

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  Posted on 10.12.09 Rhett H.

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