Fiddlers Barb Schmid and Todd Clewell and Henry Koretzky on guitar, playing as The Contra Rebels, provided music for a contra dance at St. Faustina’s Parish Center in Nanticoke in September, and will perform again 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3 during another dance at the same location.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Beginners and expert dancers are welcome
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“I had a blast! I can’t remember when I laughed so much,” Kathy Barlow of West Pittston said after contra dancing for the first time a few weeks ago.
Sponsored by the Chicory House Dance Series, the first official Wyoming Valley Contra Dance since the Covid-19 epidemic took place in September at a new venue — the St. Faustina Parish Center in Nanticoke.
Barlow said she’s eagerly anticipating the next contra dance, set for 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3 at the same location.
“Everyone was so friendly, and it was so much fun. If you miss a step you just laugh; there are no frowns,” she said, adding she was especially grateful for the experienced dancers who took her under their wing.
“Right off the bat, I was lined up to dance with someone, and neither of us knew what we were doing. But (experienced dancers) Jenn and John Ochman noticed and said, ‘Let’s switch partners.’ “
That’s an ideal way for a beginner to learn what long-time dancers describe as an extremely social activitity, with participants likely to realize they’ve danced with just about everyone in the room. If an individual wasn’t your partner, perhaps he or she was a neighbor who gave or received a “courtesy turn” or briefly “promenaded” with you or maybe even circled around you for a“do si do.”
If you think any of those terms make contra dancing sound like square dancing, you’re right. They are similar.
But contra dancing is not limited to groups of eight. Groups larger than eight usually form two long lines, dance with the people closest to them, and them move on to do the same steps with the next dancers in line.
Caller Bob Nicholson will be on hand to teach each dance, and music will be provided by the band The Contra Rebels, comprised of Henry Koretzky, Barb Schmid and Todd Clewell.
Beginners as well as experienced dancers are welcome. There is no admission charge, but “pay what you wish” donations will be gratefully accepted.
Long-time dancers know that people can arrive as individuals, as couples, with friends or with entire families. Children have been known to catch on quickly, sometimes more quickly than their parents.
And while newcomers like Barlow were glad to experience the dance for the first time, long-time dancers may have been even happier to see the dance series return to this area.
“Mere words cannot express our joy,” Thaddeus Prekel of Harding wrote in an email, speaking for himself and his wife, Vicki.