Balance and Swing

Before, the room is never crowded. Most people hang to the sides, waiting, sitting, drinking water, talking. The band is on the stage, but they're quiet.

Already, though, it's clear that something is going to need lots of space.
Why else would the center of the room be completely clear?

It's a church, a school, a library -- anywhere with a large, open room. Usually old. Often poorly lit.

But once the music starts, none of that matters, because it's a contra dance.

A mixer comes first, to teach the basics. Everyone stands in a circle and holds hands with their neighbors. Maybe everyone will walk to the center of the circle and then back out. Maybe there will be a circle right and then a circle left, or the other way around. But there is movement through the circle. One does not stay between the same two people. Pass by shoulders, pull through, a la main -- there are lots of ways to rotate.
And then there is the balance and swing.

A balance. The pair takes hands. Both step in, bounce, then step out and bounce. On the step out, it's common for the lady's left hand and the man's right hand to release. This allows them to pull farther apart, which isn't important for the balance but is important for the swing.

A swing. There are many ways to swing, but really, it's just the pair spinning in a circle.
Usually, the lady's left hand is on the man's right shoulder, the man's right hand is on the lady's back, and then they hold hands on the lady's right. The two can either walk around each other (a walking swing), or they can each leave one foot in the center and pivot around it (a buzz step). Buzz step swings are usually much faster.

Some people don't think faster swings are necessarily more fun.

I'm not one of those people.

The balance and swing is the basic step of contra, and practicing it is truly the point of the beginning mixer.

After the mixer, the dances begin. Find a partner, stand in a set -- two long lines, standing across from your partner. Partners move up and down the set together, and as the dance repeats, over and over the partners find each other for a balance and swing.

The fiddle, the caller, the colorful spinning skirts, the loud stomp on a "long lines!", the old man in a kilt.

Two women pull past each other in a ladies' chain, and the men guide them around in a half circle, a courtesy turn -- and maybe they add a twirl or few.
 I live for the twirls in a courtesy turn, even if life isn't quite contra dance.

There's a break in the middle, because contras are not short affairs. They usually last at least two and a half hours, and more often at least three.
Before the break, and at the very end of the dance, there is a waltz.

The waltz calms and lingers, so different in style, movement, music from the contras, but a contra without an ending waltz feels incomplete.

Three years ago today, my first contra dance ended with a waltz, and I had learned to balance and swing.