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History of Contra Dancing

Various opinions

Tucson Friends of Traditional Music
A Guide To Contra Dance
Alan Winston

My comments

English Country dancing of the 16^th century became popular in France early in the 17^th where it was known as contredans or contre danse. By the beginning of the 18^th century these dances were common in the respective American colonies of England and France. By the mid-18^th in the major cities, English dances merged with French court dances (minuet, pavanne) to become Colonial American dances. The rural south and north were not much influenced by this and developed their own dance forms derived loosely from English Country Dance. In northern New England contra dancing was common in the late 1700s. French terminology was not used in English Country dancing. Colonial American used French terminology derived from court dances (allemande, rigadoon, cotillion). Contra Dance uses different French terminology.

Term	French	Translation
contra	contre	opposing
allemand	à la main	by the hand
dosido	dos à dos	back to back
box the gnat	baisse le nez ??	dip the head
balance	balance	swing or rock
promenade	promenade	walk

To me, the predominance use of French terminology implies that contra dancing was developed by English and French colonists living in the same community or in neighboring ones. This was frequently the case in northern New England from 1700 to the present day. Currently about 25% of northern New England is identified as having French ancestry. In some cities 60% have French family names.

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