All the Way Around

Out of New England, south into Georgia, west across Texas and into California, up the coast to Seattle, then back across the Midwest, arriving at last in Nelson, NH.

Over two hundred years ago, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson founded the United States of America. They also danced a hot new American dance form called contra dance. Now, there are contra dances in almost every state, but the tradition remains largely out of the spotlight.

We are Dave and Lisa, from New Hampshire and Vermont respectively. Putting aside the differences of our twin states, we are taking three and a half months to follow contra dance out of its birthplace of New England, where we have danced for nearly half a decade. We hope to learn what the dance is like all over: the similarities and differences, who does it and why, and how it has spread and flourished. At the very least, we’ll get to do a lot of dancing.

Visit us here to see what kind of progress we’ve made. The trip kicks off Friday, February 16th, 2007 with The Dance Flurry, a three day dance festival located in Saratoga Springs, NY featuring dance forms from around the world, with contra holding the center stage.