Cooperstown Contra Dance: January 8th Contradance

Otsego Dance Society will kick off 2016 with a dance on Friday January 8th...
NOTE: this is the 2nd Friday of the month!
Music will be by Eleemosynary and Robby Poulette will be the caller.

Eleemosynary is the name of a band, made up of Peter Blue on nyckelharpa and button accordion, Carol Mandigo on guitar, and Danny Birnbaum on bass. Each of them play in several other bands as well as being regulars at local music sessions. Eleemosynary plays traditional and new contra dance music with an emphasis on tunes composed by Peter on nyckelharpa and accordion.

Eleemosynary means 'relating to alms, charity, or charitable donations' and in keeping with their name,
the band donates a portion of each performance to a local charity.

Robby is one of our regular contradancers and an ODS board member from Cooperstown. As an up-and-coming caller, he has called at many local area dances and led the Edmeston Home School youngsters at their Renaissance Fair Dance. His friendly style makes him fun to dance to and we are pleased to have him making his first appearance on his 'home turf'.

This is a great way to start the New Year. Remember that resolution to get more exercise...here's your chance! and it's fun too!

General Information about ODS dances

Dances are generally held on the first Friday of each month.

Dances begin at 7:30 PM and end about 10:30.

They are held at the First Presbyterian Church, on the corner of Pioneer and Church Streets in Cooperstown.

Singles and beginners are welcomed as no dance experience or partner is necessary. All dances are taught, with more instruction for beginners during the earlier dances.

Suggested donation is $8 for adults, $4 for teen-agers 18 and under and students and free for children 12 and under.

For information about specific dances or contradancing in general, call (607) 965-8232 or (607) 547-8164.

For questions about this site, call (607) 547-8164

What is Contradancing?

Contra Dancing is a form of American folk dance in which the dancers form a set of two parallel lines which run the length of the hall. Each dance consists of a sequence of moves that ends with couples having progressed one position up or down the set. As the sequence is repeated, a couple will eventually dance with every other couple in the set. (From a pamphlet called 'A Contra Dance Primer', promoting Hamilton Country Dancers' events, first published during their 1992-93 season.)

For more varied (and humorous) answers to this question, check out the website

http://www.sbcds.org/contradance/whatis/#Def1

and of course, wikipedia has some history and a good description of a typical contradance event.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_dancing

Thanks So Much!

Again this year, we have been fortunate to be awarded a grant for our 2018 contradances. Thanks so much to the Chenango Arts Council.

These dances are made possible with public funds from the Chenango Arts Council's Decentralization Program, a re-grant program of the NYS Council on the Arts, with support from Governor Andrew Cuomo and the NYS Legislature.

Money from this grant is used solely for the musicians and it enables us to present the wonderful performers you are used to hearing at our dances.

As always, we are very grateful for the grant money and the opportunity it gives us when selecting our bands.

In addition, we say 'thank you' to our dancers for their generous donations of money and refreshments and for their continued support in attending our dances!

Cooperstown Contra Dance

WE HAVE A NEW WEBSITE!

January 8th Contradance

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2018-2019 SCHEDULE

General Information about ODS dances

What is Contradancing?

Contradance Video

Other Contradance Websites

Thanks So Much!