Contradance Information

General contradance information

1. Some contradances that I wrote:
   • Anderson Ferry Reel (reel, five or six couple longways formation, mixer, 1995)
   • Eric's Doublet #2 (doublet, mixer, 1986)
   • House Husband's Reel (contradance, improper formation, gender bender, 1985)
   • Lord of the Lake (contradance, number two couple improper, gender bender, circa 1993)
   • Kate's Last Reel (contradance, Becket formation, double progression counterclockwise, 2000)
2. Folk dancing in Columbus, Ohio:
   • The Big Scoty Barn Dance. Contradancing and square dancing two Saturdays each month from September through May and some dancing in the summer. Live music.
           Big Scioty sponsors two annual dance events:
     • Winter Warmup Weekend, usually in early December.  A featured caller and band, plus local callers and bands.
     • May Apple Stomp, Lake Logan, Ohio on a Saturday and Sunday in May. (Cosponsored by Big Scioty and the Southeast Contra Dancers (Athens, Ohio).  Volunteer callers and bands.
   • All Soles Contra Dance in Columbus, Ohio. Fourth Fridays at 7:30 pm at First Unitarian Church. Admission is free but a donation is requested to compensate callers and musicians.
   • English country dancing at the Fourth Avenue Christian Church (New Location!), Neal Ave. & Fourth Ave, less than a mile south of the Ohio State campus. First and third Sundays at 7:30 pm. (During the Summer, there are no first Sunday dances.) Live music.
           The Columbus English Country Dancers sponsor a semiannual event:
     • Columbus Country Dance Weekend in October in even-numbered years.
   • International folk dancing at St. Stephen's Church, Woodruff & High. Wednesdays with the Columbus Folk Dancers.
   • Recreational Folk Dancers of Columbus (RFDC). This is a fairly new umbrella group for several Columbus area folk dancing groups. It started as an ad hoc committee to plan some dancing for New Year's Eve 1999 and became a committee to coordinate activities among local dance groups. RFDC sponsors a dance in late June.  [RFDC bylaws.]
   • A fairly comprehensive list of Columbus area dance links
3. Regional and national contradance listings and web sites devoted to contradancing:
   • Big Scioty has current information about Ohio contradances.
   • NEFFA (New England Folk Festival Association) organizes a number of dances including a weekend in April with lots of contradancing. With a great web site! (Their "LinkFest" is especially worthy of a visit.)
   • Kiran Wagle's contradance page.  (Not up-to-date, but a good source of links to other pages.)
4. Contradance indices:
   • Michael Dyck's country dance index, an ambitious index of dances, giving sources. [URL changed 11-30-2001]
   • Dr. Bob's random computer-generated contradances [The server is back up! Try it!]