Buddy up partner: Contra dancing comes to the Triangle

Spring Dance Romance, a dancing event focused on contra dancing, hopes to bring the community together with their social dancing event that runs April 26 through 28 at Northside Elementary School.

Contra dancing is a style of community folk dance originating in North America that was seen as a way to create an environment for those in the community to meet and talk to each other. It's a partner-style dance much like square dancing, but is freer because of the way people are able to express themselves and the dancers' are able to dance with any partner on the floor.

Spring Dance Romance is an event that keeps the contra dance tradition alive with the help of workshops and a fun and safe space. The event is run by the Triangle Country Dancers, who started the weekend event back in 1988.

“People who share that love and joy of dancing come together and dance together as a community,” Linda Cooper, who is part of the booking committee at Triangle Country Dancers, said. “And the energy level and the excitement is just an order of magnitude or more higher than it is at just a regular local weekly dance.”

As well as contra dancing, Spring Dance Romance features many different workshops on other forms of dances that add to the contra dance form along with specific lessons to improve contra dancing. The workshops include gender free dancing, blues dancing, and Irish set dancing. 

The Irish set dancing workshop is run by Tyler Johnson and the band Rip the Calico. Johnson has participated in Spring Dance Romance numerous times and loves how the event brings people together. 

“When everybody is moving in sync to the music, it’s like you’re no longer an individual but several hundred people all moving as one organic sea," Johnson said. "That’s an incredible experience to be a part of.” 

Irish set dancing is also a partner style dancing and does require a few techniques that need to be learned, but Alison Arnold, a member of Rip the Calico, encourages newcomers to try this form of dance.

“There’s a huge amount of enthusiasm, but not much experience,” Alison Arnold said. “So if you can mix some older people and some younger people, the more experienced ones can really shepherd the younger ones in the dance, but everyone gets enlivened by the enthusiasm of the younger dancers.”

Contra dancing is part of a larger category of dance called social dance that used to bring people together to communicate. People such as Gordon Arnold, another member of Rip the Calico, still see social dance as an important aspect of humanity.

“I tend to believe that social dancing of many different sorts and social dancing is the one key enablers of the fabric of society,” Gordon Arnold said. “And that people that normally wouldn’t talk to each other, if they're able to dance they're able to break down barriers.”

Triangle Country Dancers' decision to make Spring Dance Romance a weekend long event has encouraged more people from out of town to come to the event. The event involves a variety of people across many demographics and from different backgrounds.

“It’s not just doing the dance, but it’s connecting with people, and having fun together," Albert Lauritano, board member of Triangle Country Dancers, said. "Everybody’s smiling and it’s a very happy event.”

Triangle Country Dancers is a nonprofit organization that helps contra dancing and other forms of English and American folk dance stay relevant across all ages. Joel Feiner, president of Triangle Country Dancers and dancer, hopes many see the beauty in dancing at Spring Dance Romance as he does.

“That’s what keeps me coming back, and that’s why I’ve been doing this for six some years," Feiner said. "And I think that's why we have people in our community who’ve been dancing for 30 or 40 years, and will probably dance until they can’t dance anymore, and I hope to be one of those people.” 

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