#contra dancing

[bread--quest]

i've been having fun video editing but i need to crowdsource more clips... does anyone know of scenes in movies/tv shows where there's contra dancing/country dancing/square dancing/line dancing/what have you? that kind of dancing where everyone is in a line and doing the same movements together and sometimes there is some clapping involved. you know her. can be anything from jane austen movie dancing to the cha cha slide. although i already have two jane austen movies in there so

[stuffboblikes]

I cleaned up the google doc I used when writing contra dances a little bit if anyone wants to look at any of the dances i've written recently or ever.

[dandelionsandderivatives]

Going dancing tonight, and yes I do have the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers song looping in my head.

[orpheus-looks-forward]

Went out Contra dancing with a friend on nye. I still don't pass as anything close to a dude so it brought out a lot of social dysphoria. I was getting asked to dance by mostly men who expected me to dance the woman's part. I'm not a man either, but I typically prefer masculine roles. To be fair, I suppose I didn't ask a lot of people to dance with me so it might be my fault.

The trans-feminine friend I was with had a much better time on that front. I think I've mused about this before but its much easier to use fashion to code yourself as a woman since mens clothing restrictions are more severe (women can wear masculine clothing but men won't wear feminine clothing).

When dancing with my friend, it mattered much less to me what role I took. We switched back and forth a few times, although we both tend to be better at leading. However I knew she saw me the way I wanted to be seen so it didn't bother me, and I'm guessing it was the same for her. I don't think she led anyone else.

when i had been dancing there before the experience was much less gendered (as in they weren't saying ladies and gents, they were saying left and right) so I was kind of surprised. So much really depends on the caller I guess.

[incendavery]

the 'lark and robin' sticker turned out SO CUTE

join the sticker of the month club on my patreon by the end of march to get one of your own!

[hidefdoritos]

I just went to a swing dance for the first time! I really, really recommend it.

-The crowd was mostly homeschooling families and middle aged couples, so exactly what you'd expect in the American midwest.

-Everyone was SO nice and polite!

-What we did is called "called" dancing, so there's a person (caller) at the microphone the whole time.

-Before the music starts, everyone lines up. The caller announces the moves that are about to happen, and everyone walks through them as a practice run.

-Once the band strikes up (did I mention the live music??!), the caller still announces every motion before it happens.

-What we did was technically contra dancing. You start off dancing with a partner, and you're neighbors with another pair. You go through 4-6 motions that all take about 8 beats of music, and then you move up/down the line to another set of neighbors.

-My swing-dancing brother and SIL, who invited me, said it's a wonderful easy introduction. Less footwork than proper swing.

-Asking someone to dance isn't a romantic thing. Can be, but not necessarily. I found a confident-looking guy there by himself, told him I was new, and asked him how it worked. Danced like three dances with him, and it was fun! He taught me a lot.

-Bring a BIG water bottle. It gets sweaty and hot SO fast.

-Everyone else is also very sweaty. I was self-conscious about a guy putting his hand onto my sweaty back, but putting my hand onto his soaking wet shoulder was reassuring. And gross, but still fun.

-Also bring your inhaler. I didn't. I was fortunate to be spared an attack, but I had to sit out the last dance.

-Due to the general shortage of men, there was a little table with pre-tied neckties. Girls who were dancing the guys' part just slipped one on for distinction. Sure, your partner knows which role you're taking, but by the time you two have moved down the entire line, your inattentive neighbors could be confused.

-This one was in a church. I imagine they're also in gyms and community centers.

-I can't guarantee they'll all be this good, but in my experience it was easy and fun and welcoming. There was a mathematical precision to how all the couples moved, and also an artistic fun to swinging around and twirling a lot!

-It was all by donation, and it went to the caller and the band. Support your local arts!

-Highly recommend wearing a big swooshy skirt. :D

[respectissexy]

Digby and Wilma Thistlespring are Unitarian Universalist coded because they love folk music, their child is adopted (for most UUs this is due to being gay but you know) and most importantly, they teach comprehensive sex education out of a large binder. In this essay I will...

(Pictured: the actual binder that I taught sex ed out of earlier this year.)

[francesderwent]

sometimes you abandon a sinking ship long term relationship and fall into a dramatic short term love affair which absolutely devastates you, and for a long time ever afterward you can’t process the one except through the other. and the real closeness of the long relationship can’t compete with the closeness that was purposely manufactured to manipulate you, because it was literally designed to outshine reality. and so the loss of that eclipses everything else because when it’s gone you’ve lost the illusion and the reality, what you thought it was and everything you gave up to have it. the girls who were messy in college get it.

[theodoradove]

Making plans with a dear friend who is a straight cis male twenty-five years my senior...hurrah for unexpected connections outside of my elder millennial queer lady wheelhouse.

[collegeruledwritingblock]

Full version is on AO3!

Balance & Swing (1908 words) by thefortysecondolive Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Check Please! (Webcomic) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: William "Dex" Poindexter, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Dancing, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, the author is projecting, (just a little bit though), New England Contra Dancing

Balance & Swing

Will is trying very hard to convince himself that the knot behind his ribcage is for his sister and not himself. It’s an easy sell, mostly because he is anxious for her–it’s Brigid’s first time playing a whole set at the Belfast Contra, and he’d promised her he’d make the drive up after practice. He’s running late, even though he’d made it out of Faber in record time (without rising to the bait of any of his teammates’ chirps, he might add), and that’s making him anxious too. He’s got too much energy for the three-and-a-half-hour drive; it’s spilling over in the tapping of his left toe beside the clutch and the way his fingertips flutter against the wheel, tracking the beat of the East Pointers song rolling out of the speakers. 

He gets to the dance half an hour late, throwing the truck into park at the end of the block and running to let himself into the hall. A dance is just coming to a close as he fishes a crumpled five-dollar bill and his student ID out of the pocket of his jeans to pay his entry. It’s Patty Masters at the door tonight, and she beams at the sight of Will and gets up to come around the table and embrace him. 

“It’s so good to see you back, Will,” she gushes. “We don’t see enough of you Poindexters these days, now you’re all so grown up. Except Brigid, of course. She’s doing so well, you know–we’re all so proud of her.” 

Will grins, disentangling himself from her hug. “Yeah, I’m proud of her too,” he says, and means it. “I’m glad I could make it.” Patty smiles widely and squeezes his shoulder. 

“Go get dancing,” she says, and Will does.

Many of the regulars remember him, or at least deduce from the context clue of his flaming hair that he “must be one of the Poindexter boys.” His parents haven’t come dancing in years, since his dad threw his back out and started saving his energy for work. The Poindexter kids and their cousins had kept coming, though, until work or school pulled them away, and Will gets grins and friendly greetings as he spins up and down the set. He’s a little rusty, but it comes back to him as he goes, the same way his hockey technique does after summer training. He’s dancing the lead, despite his lack of practice and despite the fact that this dance had sunsetted gendered dance parts nearly three years ago (right around when Will’s parents had stopped coming, now that he thinks about it), because John Poindexter would–in technical terms–flip his shit if he knew one of his sons was dancing the woman’s part. 

By the end of the dance, he’s just starting to breathe hard and he’s remembered how to twirl his partner in and out of their swings. She thanks him for the dance as they clap for the band and holds her hands up for a double high-five. The set dissolves around them as he accepts the high-five, rearranging into a new line for the next dance. Will turns to find another partner–and nearly collides with Matt Hallowell. 

His stomach does a flip and doesn’t stick the landing, and he lets out a very unmanly squeak of surprise. Matt’s gotten taller, if that’s even possible, and grown his dark hair out long enough to pull it into loose bun, and there’s a small silver ring glinting in the lobe of his right ear. 

“Shit, Matt,” Will says, trying to save face. “Give a guy a little warning next time.”

“Good to see you too, Will,” Matt replies, his voice warm and amused. “May I have this dance?” It’s a needlessly formal phrasing, but one that brings a grin to Will’s face. 

He wants to say yes–he’s danced with Matt before without suffering for it–but the thought prickles uneasily along his skin like it always does and he scans the hall briefly before he responds. Aside from Brigid, who sits casually on her stool onstage with her fiddle tucked under her chin, Will is the only Poindexter in the room. That doesn’t mean he’s one hundred percent safe–half these people know his parents–but it probably means he’s safe enough. No one ever remembers, the day after the dance, exactly who danced with whom.

He looks back up at Matt, who’s making a valiant effort not to let his cheerful expression flag, and says, “Yeah, alright.”

[awesomeifidosaysomyself]

do you like live music? do you want a reason to leave your house? do you like dancing in a chill environment with pretty accessible dance moves? do you want to feel kinda like a jane austen character? if so you might like contra dancing!

[her-penetrating-soul]

"Take my hand, take my whole life too. For I can’t help falling in love with you"

~Elvis Presley

[unloneliest]

im always saying this but i think i need to regularly dance to feel human and alive

[dandelionsandderivatives]

I went contra dancing last night, where I danced a strange and wonderful Becket dance, did my best to explain to a first-timer partner that I needed to end every swing on his right, and had a fascinating conversation about medieval religious communities in Belgium. I also have a scrape on my elbow and no idea at all how it got there. 10/10, glad I went to this one.

[incendavery]

"no": you can say it!

[freonblue]

sometimes I go contra dancing on Monday nights

but it's awkwardly located, where I either have to go straight there from work and then kill an hour until it starts, or go home and turn around and go right back out

so even when I make it work

like tonight

I end up sitting in my car just as it's starting and thinking I just want to go home, can I go home now?

It's so frustrating to squint at the tea leaves of my soul and try to divine whether I will regret going out or regret staying in

the fatigue's been hitting again, so maybe I'd feel better resting and going to bed early?

but also sometimes dancing and socializing feels wonderful

anyway here I am, dragged myself all the way here and now I just wanna go home