Editing Contra dance (section)

==History==
[[File:Peterborough Snow Ball 2008 silent video.ogg|thumb|upright=1.25|Contra dancers at a ball in [[Peterborough, New Hampshire|Peterborough]], [[New Hampshire]], United States (silent video)]]
Contra dance has European origins, and over 100 years of cultural influences from many different sources.

At the end of the 17th century, English [[country dance]]s were taken up by French dance masters. The French called these dances ''contredanses'' (which roughly translated by sound "countrydance" to "contredanse"), as indicated in a 1706 dance book called ''Recueil de Contredances''.{{sfn|Holenko|2010|p=4}} Over time these dances returned to England and were spread and reinterpreted in the United States, and eventually the French form of the name came to be associated with the American folk dances, where they were alternatively called "country dances" or in some parts of New England such as New Hampshire, "contradances".{{sfn|Laufman|2009|p=158}}<ref name=OED>{{cite encyclopedia| url = http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50048899?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=contra+dance&first=1&max_to_show=10| title = Contre-dance, -danse, contra-dance| encyclopedia = Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed| publisher = Oxford University Press| year=  1989| access-date = 2006-11-01}}
: ''(as access to the'' OED ''online is not free, the relevant excerpt is provided)'' "Littré's theory, that there was already in 17th c. a French ''contre-danse'' with which the English word was confused and ran together, is not tenable; no trace of the name has been found in French before its appearance as an adaptation of the English. But new dances of this type were subsequently brought out in France, and introduced into England with the Frenchified form of the name, which led some Englishmen to the erroneous notion that the French was the original and correct form, and the English a corruption of it."</ref>

Contra dances were fashionable in the United States and were considered one of the most popular social dances across class lines in the late 18th century, though these events were usually referred to as "country dances" until the 1780s, when the term contra dance became more common to describe these events.{{sfn|Peterson|2000|pp=199–200}} In the mid-19th century, group dances started to decline in popularity in favor of [[quadrilles]], [[Les Lanciers|lancers]], and couple dances such as the [[waltz]] and [[polka]].{{sfn|Peterson|2000|pp=199–200}}  

By the late 19th century, contras were mostly confined to rural settings.{{sfn|Hast|1993|p=22}}  This began to change with the square dance revival of the 1920s, pioneered by [[Henry Ford]], founder of the [[Ford Motor Company]],{{sfn|Hast|1993|p=22}} in part as a response in opposition to modern [[jazz]] influences in the United States.{{sfn|Carlin|2005|p=192}} In the 1920s, Ford asked his friend [[Benjamin Lovett]], a dance coordinator in Massachusetts, to come to Michigan to begin a dance program. Initially, Lovett could not as he was under contract at a local inn; consequently, Ford bought the property rights to the inn.<ref name=Lowry>{{cite news|last1=Lowry|first1=Klint|title=Longtime contra dancing program comes to an end|url=http://www.thenewsherald.com/stories/020205/lif_20050202001.shtml|archive-url=https://archive.today/20080706015642/http://www.thenewsherald.com/stories/020205/lif_20050202001.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 July 2008|access-date=5 January 2015|work=The News-Herald|publisher=Heritage Newspapers|date=2 February 2005}}</ref> Lovett and Ford initiated a dance program in [[Dearborn, Michigan]] that included several folk dances, including contras.{{sfn|Spalding|2014|p=147}} Ford also published a book titled ''Good Morning: After a Sleep of Twenty-Five Years, Old-Fashioned Dancing Is Being Revived'' in 1926 detailing steps for some contra dances.{{sfn|La Chapelle|2011|p=36}}

[[File:Dudley Laufman.jpg|thumb|right|Caller and musician Dudley Laufman, a significant figure in the contra dance revival of the mid-20th century]]
In the 1930s and 1940s, the popularity of jazz, [[swing music|swing]], and [[big band]] music caused contra dance to decline in several parts of the US; the tradition carried on primarily in towns within the northeastern portions of North America, such as [[Ohio]], the [[Maritime provinces]] of Canada,<ref>Lois S. Fahs, ''Swing Your Partner: Old Time Dances of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia'' (Sackville, N.B.: The author, 1939).</ref> and particularly in [[New England]]. [[Ralph Page]] almost single-handedly maintained the New England tradition until it was revitalized in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly by [[Ted Sannella]] and [[Dudley Laufman]].

The New England contra dance tradition was also maintained in Vermont by the Ed Larkin Old Time Contra Dancers, formed by Edwin Loyal Larkin in 1934.<ref name=Palmer>{{cite news|last1=Palmer|first1=Robin|title=Ed Larkin dancers head for Tunbridge again|url=http://timesargus.nybor.com/Story/71366.html|access-date=5 January 2015|work=Barre-Times (Argus, Vermont)|date=10 September 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125204927/http://timesargus.nybor.com/Story/71366.html|archive-date=25 January 2020}} [http://www.contradancelinks.com/articles/vttunbridge20030910.html Alt URL]</ref> The group Larkin founded is still performing, teaching the dances, and holding monthly open house dances in [[Tunbridge, Vermont]].<ref name=Palmer /><ref name=YTV>{{cite web|title=Contra Dance Tunbridge Town Hall|url=http://youngtraditionvermont.org/events/contra-dance-tunbridge-town-hall/|website=Young Tradition Vermont|access-date=5 January 2015}}</ref>

By then, early dance camps, retreats, and weekends had emerged, such as [[Pinewoods Dance Camp|Pinewoods Camp]], in [[Plymouth, Massachusetts]], which became primarily a music and dance camp in 1933,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pinewoods.org/about/history/|title=Pinewoods Camp, Inc. : History|website=www.pinewoods.org|access-date=24 December 2018}}</ref> and NEFFA, the [[New England Folk Festival]], also in Massachusetts, which began in 1944.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.neffa.org/|title=NEFFA – New England Folk Festival Association|access-date=24 December 2018}}</ref> Pittsburgh Contra Dance celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cdss100.org/community100/centennial-expressions/18-spread-the-joy | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716134333/https://www.cdss100.org/community100/centennial-expressions/18-spread-the-joy | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 16, 2019 | title=Celebrating 100 years | access-date=16 July 2019 }}</ref> These and others continue to be popular and some offer other dances and activities besides contra dancing.

[[File:BIDA Contra Dance 2022-02-20.webm|thumb|upright=1.25|A BIDA contra dance in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], during the COVID-19 pandemic]]
In the 1970s, Sannella and other callers introduced dance moves from [[English Country Dance]], such as [[contra dance choreography|heys and gypsies]], to the contra dances.<ref>{{cite web
 | url =http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/~winston/ecd/gmurrow.htmlx
 | title =How figures like heys and gypsies got into modern contradancing
 | last =Murrow
 | first =Gene
 | date =March 15, 1998
 | website =ssrl.slac.stanford.edu
 | publisher =Alan Winston
 | access-date =2022-01-15
 | quote =Dudley [Laufman] began calling Prince William and Childgrove, among others, at the Dudley dances. Ted [Sannella] was writing more and more contras and triplets with English figures (including heys and gypsies).Soon the contra tradition, via Ted and Dudley and others, would embrace the figures, flow, and faster tempos of the English and Southern mountain dances, culminating in the "zesty contra" style.}}
</ref> New dances, such as ''Shadrack's Delight'' by [[Tony Parkes (caller)|Tony Parkes]], featured symmetrical dancing by all couples. (Previously, the actives and inactives – see [[#Progression|Progression]] – had significantly different roles). Double progression dances, popularized by Herbie Gaudreau,<ref>Gaudreau, Herbie, ''Modern Contra Dancing'' (Sandusky, OH: Square Dance Magazine, 1971).</ref> added to the aerobic nature of the dances, and one caller, [[Gene Hubert]], wrote a quadruple progression dance, ''Contra Madness''. Becket formation was introduced, with partners starting the dance next to each other in the line instead of opposite each other. 
The [[Brattleboro, Vermont|Brattleboro]] Dawn Dance started in 1976, and continues to run semiannually.<ref>
{{cite web |url= http://www.dawndance.org/history.html |title= A look at late-night dancing in the Brattleboro, VT area from the 1920s to the 1960s |access-date= 2007-01-15 |author= Michael McKernan |year= 1995 |work= Brattleboro Dawn Dances History |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20011211125057/http://www.dawndance.org/history.html |archive-date= 2001-12-11 }}
</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.dawndance.org/| title = Brattleboro Dawn Dances}}</ref>

In the early 1980s, Tod Whittemore started the first Saturday dance in the [[Peterborough, New Hampshire|Peterborough]] Town House, which remains one of the more popular regional dances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.monadnockfolk.org/?page_id=30|title=Peterborough 1st Saturdays and Special Dances – Monadnock Folklore Society|access-date=24 December 2018}}</ref> The Peterborough dance influenced [[Bob McQuillen]], who became a notable musician in New England. As musicians and callers moved to other locations, they founded contra dances in Michigan, Washington, Oregon, California, Texas, and elsewhere.