Michael Dyck's Contradance Index

... indexing contradances since 1996 ...

(Wondering what contradance is? Try this set of links.)


Last updated 2013 March 26: 10236 records, 7096 distinct titles.

Title
Author

Recent updates:

Dec 01 wCoffman 16 dances added ("Be My Heroine", "Butterbump", "Chains of Love", "Dancing in My Bones", "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", "Los Amigos", "McContra", "Moonshine", "On the One Hand", "Out in Left Field", "Out of Hand", "Queenless", "Stem to Stern", "Traveling Salesman", "Triple Hat Syndrome", "Tutti Fruti").
Dec 01 wDVA 1 dance added ("Rick O'Shay Broke My Hey").
Dec 01 wFischle 1 dance added ("Large Figure Eight").
Dec 01 wFoster 12 dances added ("Birthday Galop", "Christmas Hornpipe", "Devil's Nightmare", "Don't Blame Me", "Down the Hall", "Melbourne Cup", "Nelly Bly variation", "Petronella Square", "Star Chase", "Supernova", "Too Right", "The Whirligiggin' Gypsy").
Dec 01 wHemphill 20 dances added ("Cavewoman #8", "Chase by Butterflies", "Cupid's Hey", "Dance All Day", "Hand to Hand", "Hey man, Chain", "Hey Breaker", "John's Joy Ride", "Macadamia Nut", "November Nights", "The Partner Push", "Proper Zest", "Rick O'Shay Broke my Hey", "Rolling in Catnip", "Rounding the Corners", "The Scrambler", "Shiver Me Timbers", "Stars of Fredericktown", "Two + Two Makes Three", "Under the Stars").
Dec 01 wHume 1 dance added ("Caulking Jig").
Dec 01 wKaufman 1 dance added ("Rang Tang Contra").
Dec 01 wKrackau 6 dances added ("Alden Biezen Quadrille", "Contraband Hey", "Don Bosco Hornpipe", "Dud's Reel", "Insomnia Reel", "Lighted Sconce").
Dec 01 wPage 8 dances added ("Do What's Right", "A Sure Thing", "Something Borrowed", "Kindred Spirits", "Trust", "Rolling Break", "TLC Tempest, 2009 version", "A Thing of Trust").
Dec 01 wRavitz 3 dances added ("Becket Eyes", "Call Me", "Cows Are Watching").
Dec 01 wSmuklerD 2 dances added ("Bingham's Pie", "New Countryman's Reel").
Dec 01 wSouthard 1 dance added ("Double Dip").
Dec 01 wTepfer 2 dances added ("Playful Gordons", "The Law firm of Rob and Sue").
Dec 01 wWilson 1 dance added ("Gold Star Wednesday").
Dec 02 wDVA 1 dance added ("Wes Side Story").
Dec 02 wDalsemer Change URL (Thanks to Karin Neils for the link!); 1 dance changed ("Old Bob's Mixer"); 5 dances added ("Connie's Contra", "Jan and Nanette", "Red Mountain Reel", "May Mixer", "Glen Echo Promenade").
Dec 05 wGoodyearPrograms Index "Grant Goodyear's Dance Programs" (102 dances).
Feb 02 wCoffman 17 dances added ("Adam's Apple", "Adam's Dance", "Ain't Dancing Grand?", "Black Swan", "Bob & Martha's Excellent Adventure", "Cards on the Table", "Happy Wife Happy Life", "Hey Gomer, Hey Goober", "Hinton's Circle of Love", "Inside Out", "Jumping Joe Felson", "Ladybug", "Rachel's Refulgent Rumination", "Salad Days", "Star Crossed", "Under the Table", "Was Then and Is Now").
Feb 02 wDVA 5 dances added ("Becketize the Baby", "Bee in Her Bonnet", "Hand to Hand", "Happy Hare", "Tutti Fruiti").
Feb 02 wFabry Index "Mariah Fabry's Dances" (5 dances).
Feb 02 wGoodyearPrograms 3 dances added ("Down but not out", "Judah Jig", "3, 33-33").
Feb 02 wHemphill 2 dances changed ("Hey-ja Vu", "Wave to your Neighbor"); 5 dances added ("Beneath the Stars", "The Big Bicep", "Dalliance", "Dalliance in the Deli", "Wave Goodby").
Feb 02 wPage 3 dances added ("Catch of the Day", "Victory Rose", "Gate Expectations").
Feb 02 wRavitz 1 dance changed ("Presto Petronella A"); 4 dances added ("Fiddlers' Fling", "Presto Petronella B", "Another Slice", "Cheat Lake Gypsies").
Feb 02 wRosenP Change code from "Rosen" to "RosenP".
Feb 02 wRosenS Index "Sue Rosen's Dances" (22 dances).
Feb 02 wWatson 1 dance changed ("Venus and Mars Variation").
Feb 03 wKing Index "Jonathan King's collection" (81 dances).
Mar 02 wPark Index "Frederick Park's Country Dances" (Thanks to Chris Page for typing it in!) (7 dances).
Mar 02 wRPDLW_2011 Index "Syllabus of the 24th Annual Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend" by David Smukler and Nils Fredland (80 dances). (Thanks to Chris Page for analysis and typing!)
Mar 26 wSuchenski Index "Bryan Suchenski's Contra Dances" (2 dances).
Mar 26 wTurner Change URL (Thanks to Laurie Pietravalle for the new link!).

My goal for this web site is to index every contra dance ever published. Moreover, I intend to include any other country dances that are published alongside contras. By "published", I mean in a book, booklet, newsletter, or on the World-Wide Web.

I'm not trying to index every publication, just the ones that have appeared since 1953. (If you know of any I'm missing, please let me know!) I chose that cutoff because "The Contra Dance Book" by Rickey Holden "is a compilation of all the contra and progressive circle dances which have appeared in readily available American literature between 1850 and 1953." So by indexing that book (CDBH), I'm claiming to cover all the contras published up to 1953.

For each dance, I have the following info:

Publication Info
This consists of a book (or newsletter) identifier and a page number (or dance number, if they're numbered). Eventually, I'll have the full publication info somewhere.
Dance Title
Pretty straightforward.
Authorship
Usually this is a single author, but sometimes it's more than one, either working together or one adapting the other.
Formation
I've let myself be a bit cryptic on this. And then numbers defining the composition of each (minor) set, and then optional stuff indicating whether each couple is proper or improper, and whether it's a mixer.

Note that I do not include the figures of the dances. If you're looking for on-line country dance descriptions, check my list of sources for codes that begin with 'w'.

Here's my to-do list, including links to lots more websites containing contra dances that I haven't indexed yet.


And now, the indexes:

My list of sources, the codes I use to denote them, and my raw data files are all available here.


Website by Michael Dyck, jmdyck@ibiblio.org

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