Dancing is exercise. You put yourself on a dance floor and surrender your body to the sounds of the band or the D.J. providing the audio motivation for your movement, and unless you’re mimicking an Arthur Fonzarelli-inspired slow dance (youngsters, feel free to research the aforementioned name) you should, or come close to, working up a sweat.
If you’ve been to a festival or two you’ve seen plenty of people gracefully gliding around a dance floor or field, or worse, knocking about on a couple of left feet leaving you wondering what the hell it is you’re seeing or what those people are doing. Anyone willing to dance in public, however, should get an A for effort.
If you go
WHAT: Durango Contra Dance with The Fractal String Band.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Durango/La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave.
TICKETS: $10/$20 donation.
A more organized and local dancing effort comes via the monthly contra dances that take place at the Durango/La Plata Senior Center. Known historically as New England or Appalachian folk dance, these events originated in the English and Scottish countryside. They are social dances, similar to square or even line dancing, where participants will form couples along the lines of participants. On stage there will be a band providing the music, along with a caller who teaches a number of moves for the dance, calling those moves out as the dance progresses.
The two local bands providing the score for the Durango Contra Dances are The Fractal String Band and Tom Ward’s Downfall, with the next contra dance happening Saturday at the Senior Center.
“They’re basically country dances,” said Ed Webb, who plays Irish flute in Tom Ward’s Downfall. “It’s not exactly like a square dance, but there are do-si-dos and all that kind of stuff. And every dance is taught right there on the spot. You don’t have to have any kind of experience or knowledge about it – you just show up and be ready to get a workout. It’s a little bit, you know, vigorous.”
These dances remain a great way to support and participate in Durango’s thriving Celtic music scene. Similar to the local bluegrass scene, Durango’s Celtic scene features a load of players (many who actively play Celtic and bluegrass music) who were bitten by the bug of the music and have gone whole hog in the scene through a love of the music and its social setting. Casual jam sessions have formed many a band in both Celtic and bluegrass realms, and it’s how Tom Ward’s Downfall came together.
“We started just with Erick (Morningstar, who plays bouzouki) playing some tunes with Ari (Schermer, who plays fiddle) down at the Durango Winery,” Webb said. “Then they invited me after a while. And we started to get together and play tunes out. Then Danna (Manganaro, on vocals and percussion), who we’ve known for a long time from Irish sessions going way back, was available to sing. So we picked her up. And the quartet seems to work out good.”
Always eager to play, you can find them at weekly Celtic jams, the forthcoming Durango Celtic Festival or performing for the April contra dance; The Fractal String Band will perform at the March dance.
You don’t need to be Fred Astair or Ginger Rogers to take a whirl around the dance floor; you just need a couple of feet and a willingness to dance like nobody’s watching. Small towns like Durango have hosted monthly dances for decades, and an effort like this remains a great way to support Durango’s music scene in a positive and uplifting social setting; there’s no need to remain a wallflower.
“They’re building up right now. They were kind of quiet for awhile, but in the last two years we’ve had some pretty good attendance,” Webb said. “So that’s excellent. It seems to get bigger all the time.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
