Cooperstown Contra Dance: February 1st Contradance

Our next contradance will be on Friday February 1^st at the Presbyterian Church in Cooperstown. Music will be by Erik House and Friends and Peter Blue will be the caller.

Erik House is the leader of this month's band and a life-long fiddler from Springfield Center. He will be joined by “Friends” Kathy Shimberg and John Potocnik. Kathy plays piano and several other instruments in a variety of styles and has played with Erik at dances for over 30 years. John's fiddle playing is rooted in traditional sounds and rounds out the trio for this dance. Together, they combine their years of musical experience to bring us (as Erik says) a 'rousing good time'!

Peter is well known throughout New York, New England and beyond as a musician, caller, and organizer of the Pine Lake dances at Hartwick College. His easy-going calling style and sense of humor make for an evening full of surprises.

With winter in full swing, it's a great chance to warm up and have loads of fun. So come on over and join us!

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

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February 1st Contradance

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2018-2019 SCHEDULE

General Information about ODS dances

What is Contradancing?

Contradance Video

Other Contradance Websites

Thanks So Much!