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Weekly Entertainment Section The Daily T.ar Heel
Contra Dancing
Finds Its Fans
Both Youngs Old
The dance, which combines elements of
square, English and Irish dancing, does not
limit itself to only "flower children."
Bv Ferris Morrison
Staff Writer
For ladies and gents looking for flirtatious foot-stomping
fun, the Carolina Song and Dance Association offers contra
dancing - an age-old dance that has metamorphasized into
something that isn’t just for flower children and dancing buffs
anymore.
“The key to contra dancing is that it’s a very exuberant
form of social interaction,” CSDA coordinator Buz Lloyd
said. “There is physical contact in an innocent context, intense
flirtation, and it’s all understood to be a part of the evenings
activities and nothing is meant by it.”
The CSDA, a nonprofit organization, sponsors two contra
dances per month at Estes Hills Elementary School in Chapel
Hill.
Contra dancing is the result of the infusion of several dif
ferent dances, including square dancing, English folk dancing
and Irish country dancing. It involves a series of simple moves
choreographed to fit eight beat sections in 64 beats of music
that recycle until the dance has completed, Larry Rowen said.
College students might like contra dancing because of the
freedom and ease of the dance itself, Rowen said.
Rowen led a small group of first-time contra dancers dur
ing a beginner's lesson at Estes Hills Elementary School.
Rowen, a physics professor at UNC, has been contra danc
ing for about 35 years. He said contra dancing was a com
munity-oriented dance that was fun for anyone, even less tal
ented dancers.
“It’s fairly accessible to anybody,” he said. “It’s structured
enough that you don't have to follow and lead.”
Rowen has been calling contra dances (leading the
dancers) for about 10 years, but said he often enjoyed danc
ing more than calling.
. “I think it’s somehow tied to my heritage,” Rowen said.
“There’s just something about this music that I found entranc
ing.”
Another avid contra dance lover said she was similarly
entranced after first trying contra dancing at the Florida Folk
Festival in White Springs, Fla., about four years ago.
“They’re such a warm, friendly group on the whole,” said
Francine Warwick of Chapel Hill. “It’s a barrel of fun,
nobody’s uptight, you can wear crazy clothes. There’s cer
tainly no formality.”
Warwick said people who had never tried contra dancing
before should not be apprehensive about trying it out.
“You don’t have to have any great skill,” Warwick said.
“There’s a great effort to welcome and dance with newcom
ers.”
Jarrett McLaughlin, a junior religious studies major from
Raleigh, said he thinks of contra dancing as part of the “lost
art of partner dancing.”
“It’s more interactive and social than club dancing,” he
said.
Warwick said she encouraged and invited more students to
give contra dancing a try.
“You don’t want something like this to die out and it just
become a dance of old fogies,” Warwick said.
In a small gymnasium filled with people ranging in age
from five to 85, it is hard to imagine contra dancing becom
ing a dance of old fogies. Lloyd said the ease and excitement
of contra dancing attracted a variety of people.
“(Contra dancing) is pretty well out of the mainstream,” he
said.
The CSDA began in the 1980s as the Carolina Square
Dance Foundation. In 1986, the organization was renamed
the CSDA because members of the group were branching out
to include more than just square dancing, Lloyd said.
Today, the main focus of the group is to promote and pre
serve traditional American dance, he said. The organization’s
mainstay is contra dancing, although each Friday night
includes a round of “proper” and “improper" contra dances
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Tanya Jedlica (right) shows her students how to move during lessons on country-western line-dancing at The
Longbranch in Raleigh. Jedlica has taught at The Longbranch for two years.
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A couple slow dances to tunes under low lights on the main dance floor of The Longbranch in Raleigh after a night of two-step lessons.
DANCING
MACHINES
Both contra dancing and country line dancing grant college students an opportunity to meet and mingle with new acquaintances.
mixed with a couples dance called the Swedish Hombo.
“Proper” contra dancing begins with a long line of men and
a line of women facing each other. “Improper” dancing begins
with men and women intermingled in two lines.
For students who cannot wait for the CSDA’s next contra
dance on Feb. 6, Triangle Country Dancers in Durham will
hold a contra dance at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The band Stir Fries
will provide music for caller Bree Kalb.
A beginner session will teach first-timers the basics of con
tra dancing, and the event will formally begin at 8 p.m. at a
cost of $7.
With intense flirtation and lots of physical contact, Lloyd
said college students would enjoy contra dancing.
“I think college students would enjoy it if they gave it a
try,” Lloyd said.
“You don’t find a lot of Republicans here, but you’ll find
a lot of aging flower children and possibly some younger
flower children.”
The Diversions Editors can be reached
atartsdesk@unc.edu.
Page 5
Thursday, January 21,19991
New Sound Fuels Line Dance
By Ferris Morrison
Staff Writer
In an era where R&B has reached
the height of popularity, country music
is changing its style, leaving the old
“twang” behind to offer anew sound to
fans that like to kick up their heels and
boot scoot the night away country line
dancing.
“Country music is changing,” said
Carrie Van Hoy, a senior communica
tions major from Statesville. “It's not the
twangy stuff that it used to be. And if
you know how to dance to it, it always
makes the music more attractive.”
Inside clubs like The Longbranch in
Raleigh, dancers don cowboy hats and
boots while they scuff their feet to Billy
Ray Cyrus and Dixie Chicks.
Joan Caviness, an avid dancer at The
Longbranch, started teaching line danc
ing in 1996 and has since become the
World Champion in the Showcase
Division of the United Country
Western Dance Council.
She now teaches two-step at the
Longbranch.
Caviness said many people, includ
ing college students, were attracted to
country line dancing and two-step
because of the simplicity of the steps.
“Even if you’re not the world’s great
est dancer, at least you can still join in
and have fun,” Caviness said.
It is this sense of camaraderie that
attracts college students to country line
dancing, Caviness said.
That element is what first attracted
Van Hoy. She never listened to country
music before a friend introduced her to
country line dancing, she said.
“I actually really didn’t like it at all,”
Van Hoy said. “But a good friend of
mine took me (line dancing.) It was
something we could share together, and
the music just kind of came along with
it”
Aside from line dancing, country
music offers its followers a wide range
| Movies Page 7
of couples dancing like two-step and
swing. Caviness said many single peo
ple would come to the Longbranch to
dance and mingle.
“It’s such a good way to meet peo
ple,” Caviness said. “If you are a guy
that can dance, you have it made.
Women love to dance, and hardly any
guys do.”
Many college students shy away
from country music because of the
stereotype that people who listen to
country music are rednecks, Van Hoy
said.
But students who do not necessarily
like country music might find anew
passion in line dancing, she said.
Anew interest in swing coupled with
a lack of local country clubs also seems
to keep students away from country line
dancing, said Brittany Greenwell, a
junior journalism major from Durham.
“I think people right now are preoc
cupied with swing and shag,”
Greenwell said. “Plus, there are not
country clubs around here that people
go to.
“If there was a country club up on
Franklin Street, people would have
more access to it,” she said.
The lack of local venues has not
daunted die-hard line dancers, though.
Holly Rincic, a senior English major
from Mount Airy, said she would go as
far as Greensboro or Rockingham for a
good country club.
But there might be more local clubs
than many students realize. Shooters, a
popular country club, recently
reopened its doors at anew location in
Durham.
After 18 years, The Longbranch in
Raleigh is one of the longest standing
nightclubs in the area. It offers students
who are 21 and older another location
to line dance, two step, shag and swing.
Caviness said the Longbranch
offered lessons that make line dancing
simple even for dancers with two left
feet
I Don’t Wanna Wait ...
For Dawson's Debut
James Van Der Beek, of
TV's "Dawson's Creek"
fame, makes his first
appearance on the big
screen in "Varsity Blues."
He costars with Jon
Voight in the teen drama
about a high school
football team in Texas.
Dance Til You Drop
Got the itch to twitch? For information
on where you can go to kick up your
(tar) heels, check out these area clubs.
Country Line Dancing
The Longbranch
600 Creekside Drive, Raleigh
829-1125
Shooters
827 W. Morgan St., Durham
680-0428
The Palomino Club
4514 High Point Road, Greensboro
(336) 547-7002
Contra Dancing
Triangle Country Dancers
220-8411
Carolina Song and Dance Association
967-9948
“If you give them something that you
can break down and learn in steps, it’s
something everyone can do,” Caviness
said.
Tanya Jedlica of Cary currently
teaches fine dancing at the Longbranch.
She offered this advice last week while
teaching the “Waltzing Matilda” to a
group of eager country line dancers:
“The secret to country line dancing
is to hide in the middle and hope that
the gentleman next to you knows what
the heck we’re doing.”
The Diversions Editor can be reached
at artsdesk@unc.edu.