Contrastock: 8+ hours of contra dancing! A premier contra dance event, featuring nationally renowned bands and callers and an amazing open air dance hall.
When: October 15, 2023 from 1pm to 10:00 PM. There is a break for dinner.
Where: Bumper Car Pavilion at Glen Echo Park
Bands:
Kingfisher is a Boston-based duo, made up of Jeff Kaufman (keyboard, mandolin, drums, etc) and Cecilia Vacanti on fiddle). Learn more
Live Wire is an exciting Philadelphia band and Northeast favorite. Tom Krumm lights up the dance floor with his brilliant fiddling. Ben Kennedy (keyboard), a second-generation contra musician, keeps us grounded and humming along. Bill Quern (banjo, mandolin, melodeon) and Sarah Gowan (guitar) bring 25 years of experience sparking contra joy. Blending traditional and original tunes, we create a varied and energetic evening of dance.
Baker's Favorite - Welcome this new band to the stage! Elke Baker on fiddle, Larry Unger on guitar, and Marco Brehm on bass
Callers:
Hailing from Asheville, NC, Diane Silver has called dances and led workshops for over 20 years in contra, clogging, swing, and other couples dances at hundreds of evenings, festivals, camps and workshops across the U.S. and abroad. With a penchant for hot modern contras and a few FUN squares, she loves sharing high-energy dancing that allows everyone to “play” with the band. Highly acclaimed for her clear, efficient teaching and calling, creative medleys, great positive energy, and spirit of community building, Diane provides a sizzling evening of dance in a friendly, welcoming tone. More about Diane
Bob Isaacs, from Princeton NJ, squares the circles and lines up the dots with his delightful dance compositions. A prolific choreographer of creative dances, Bob is known for his clear calling of flowing contras and amazing hot grid squares.
Janine Smith calls square, contra, and family dances in the Washington, DC area. Her teaching is clear and to-the-point, though she has been known to goof around a bit. She’s one of the “Hot Square Babes”, a quintet of female callers who threw a monthly Square Dance Party from 2004-2018, and a founding member of the DC Square Dance Collective.
View schedule
Please use fragrance sparingly or not at all. Contrastock is being called with non- gendered dance role terms
PLEASE NOTE: t-shirt sizes are not guaranteed after 10/6
Covid protocol: Tier 2, masks and vaccination-and-booster are encouraged but not required
More about the FSGW COVID-19 Response policy
