Contra dance (also contradance, contra-dance and other variant spellings) is a form of folk dancing made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in the 17th century.

Feb 7, 2010 · The Dancing Bears are a contra dance band from Asheville, North Carolina and feature Lew Gelfond on fiddle, Mark Langner on guitar, John Culp on mandolin and banjo and Skip Metheny on bass. Santa Barbara's Dannsair plays Irish music with jazz, classical and traditional Irish sensibilities.

Apr 24, 2011 · Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian, Scandinavian, but also the true contra dance band’s love of newly composed tunes, both from friends and band members. In fact, the tunes composed by band members in Night Watch (each member is a tune composer) are some of the best tracks on the album.

Countercurrent: Alex Sturbaum & Brian Lindsay, a powerhouse acoustic duo based in Olympia, WA featuring fiddle, guitar, harmony vocals, and foot percussion. Contra dance & folk music that will rock your socks. Get the new album now on Bandcamp! Help us out, share with the world! © 2025 Countercurrent. Proudly powered by Sydney.

Contrasaurus are a contra dance band, based in England, who specialise in playing traditional tunes in an innovative style that is great to dance to. Contact us for details about booking us for your event.

Some of my favorites, in maybe in the best order to view them, are: The Free Raisins — a young band, relatively new to dance music and very articulate about how to play for contra dances. Excellent introduction, with good examples. Jamie Laval — a champion Irish fiddler talks about the origins of dance and how the music fits the dance.

The Contra Banditos play traditional fiddle tunes for contra dances throughout New England. The Contra Banditos also play fiddle tunes and Americana music for parties, receptions and festivals. Our set lists include… Click on our CD Redwing to hear samples. Red Wing now available!

R iptide plays traditional music for contra dances. They are one of the most energetic contra dance bands on the scene today. They love the tunes they play, and their repertoire contains literally hundreds of tunes from New England, Quebec, Ireland, Appalachia, and a …

Kingfisher is a Boston-based contra dance band, consisting of Cecilia Vacanti (fiddle) and Jeff Kaufman (piano, mandolin, drums, synths).

A musician's guide to contra choreography by Andrew VanNostrand: in this invaluable article, Andrew discusses the types of contra dance figures, the kinds of dances (bouncy, smooth, symmetrical, etc.), building sets around the choreography of contra …