Contra Dancing

[Boatman398]

A question for those involved in contra dancing. I know some of you do it and wear skirts while dancing. My question is it rare that men wear skirts to contra dances ? Is it just those of us involved in these skirt bulletin boards that do it? I am under the impression that men who normally would not wear skirts in public do it at contra dances is this correct?

Bob

[SkirtDude]

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[JRMILLER]

Another question, what kind of skirt and why wear it to the contra dance. As I am unfamiliar with that form of dance, what aspect of contra dancing works with a skirt? Twirling?

[SkirtDude]

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[JRMILLER]

Thanks for posting these links -- the first one reminds me of square dancing in a barn -- wild and loose. The second one almost has an old English Minuet feeling to it.

I am surprised at the number of young people dancing -- we belong to a ballroom dancing group and young people are rare. This must be where they are hiding out.

Will have to give this a try!

[AMM]

I'd have to agree that most of the men who wear skirts while Contra dancing would not wear them outside of dance events. I think it's that they need the encouragement of seeing other men wearing skirts and being accepted. I say this because when I am at multi-day events, the number of men in skirts goes up over time.

Groups with a lot of college-age people tend to have more men in skirts.

Contra dancing groups have a reputation for being pretty open-minded. I've seen transsexuals appearing at dances, albeit infrequently, and people dance with them like with anyone else. I know there are gays and lesbians who come to regular contra dances (and I'm not even including the explicitly gay-friendly dance groups), although since it's pretty common for non-gay women to dance as men, and accepted (though less common) for non-gay men to dance as women, you can't really tell how many there are.

Other dance forms have a reputation for being less tolerant: in the past, square dance clubs tended to be pretty narrow-minded and old-fashioned: to judge by some on-line articles, it was a Big Deal when some festivals started allowing women to wear skirts longer than the traditional over-the-knee length, and you had to bring a partner. I think things are changing, mostly because they can't find new people who are willing to put up with all the restrictions.

English Country Dance (ECD) groups vary, I'm told. I routinely do ECD in a skirt at festivals, but since Contra Dance is a big part of all the festivals I go to, they're already used to it. I haven't tried it at our local group (White Plains); I think they'd accept it eventually, particularly as I'm known as a good dancer, but it would take a while.

Some links:

Contra dancing in Columbus, Ohio (I'm guessing that "Central Ohio" is near Columbus) http://www.bigscioty.com/

The obligatory "men in skirts" link: http://www.qccd.org/skirts.html

[JRMILLER]

AMM,
Columbus is 20 mins South, it's where us country folks go for culture and entertainment. Thanks for the link, my wife and I are both interested.

[pepsie1]

Anybody happen to notice the guy in the purple ankle length skirt. I first picked him up at 18 seconds and he danced with at least two different partners. He looks really comfortable.

[SkirtDude]

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[Charlie]

Anybody happen to notice the guy in the purple ankle length skirt. I first picked him up at 18 seconds and he danced with at least two different partners. He looks really comfortable.

He did look good in that skirt. In the second clip, the woman in the blue dress (1.17 into the clip) did a beautiful twirl and her skirt really flared out. I'd love to do that

Charlie

[JRMILLER]

Charlie,
I saw that too, I would like to be able to do that too. We really are a "different" bunch, eh?

There is an active group here in Columbus, OH and they have a dance coming up at the end of Nov. We are going to give it a try! I hope it's a large, active group, it looks like a blast!

[cessna152towser]

Scottish Country Dancing was my first introduction to kilts/skirts. Many of the men wear kilts for dancing and my wife eventually persuaded me to buy a kilt to join in the spirit. Once I discovered how comfortable it was I wished I'd got one sooner. Though even then I rarely wore the kilt outside of the dancing, until a leg injury temporarily forced me into wearing a kilt to work, which was when I discovered it was also OK for everyday wear.