Contra Dance Roots and Fiddle Tunes

The roots of contra dance in fiddle tunes may seem obvious to contra dance fans. But traditional contra dance fiddler, Dudley Laufman has something to say about this. He is a winner of the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts, the NEA National Heritage Fellowship.

According to an article by Dave Howell in The Morning Call  Laufman says “not all contra dances are traditional any more. Modernism has crept in.”

The article goes on to say:

In a phone call from his home in Canterbury, N.H., Laufman says many dances have strayed from their origins. Just as Latin dance has morphed into Zumba and exercise into aerobics, many callers have invented complicated contra-dance moves (the caller is the person who “calls out” instructions to the dancers). Like singer/songwriters do with folk music, some create new dances to make a name for themselves.

That won’t happen when he takes the microphone as the caller on Saturday. Laufman, who calls himself an “old fart” of 80 years, is not enthusiastic about many of the changes.
“In Seattle we did a back-to-the-roots dance and half of the people left,” says Laufman. “There was none of the modern stuff. If I would have known, I would have turned down the job or planned something different.”

He regrets that the blue-collar crowd has largely disappeared. “You don’t see many truck drivers anymore. It’s all singles and computer programmers.”

Laufman will be playing and calling along with fellow fiddler and life partner Jacqueline Laufman and Lancaster pianist Jill Smith. The Laufmans do hundreds of events a year as “Two Fiddles.”

“If you are looking for fancy fiddling — forget it,” Laufman says. He provides the rhythm and a rough melody, while Jacqueline enhances the melody in her own style. Neither of them has formal training.

Laufman patterns his calling style after the late Ralph Page, who was known as a “singing” caller, although Laufman said he actually chanted, harmonizing to “fill in the cracks.”
He will not only lead contra dances, but will incorporate square and “round” dances, the latter including waltzes and polkas.

Laufman uses the term “barn dances” to describe his old-style music and the dances where he calls and plays. “It’s a term people can identify with.

[The term “contra dance” refers to the lining up of the dancers in two lines opposite each other. Ed. note]

Laufman notes that the music at contra dances should not be called songs, although they can be referred to as fiddle tunes. He calls them “jigs, reels, hornpipes and some marches.”

Sonja Walker, president of Valley Contra Dance, says…”Contra is similar to square dance, with some of the same moves,” she says. “But instead of having eight people in a square, people face each other in long lines. There is always live music, and there are always callers to help people.” With contra dance, partners change continuously, so by the end of the night you could wind up dancing with nearly everyone in the room.

The bands always include an instrument to keep the rhythm, usually piano or bass, sometimes guitar. The others are generally those used in Celtic, bluegrass, old-time, and folk music, such as fiddles and accordions.

Nothing against the accordion, but in my opinion, the traditional roots of contra dance are best served by a live fiddler playing fiddle tunes.