The Alaska Contradance Connection
A listing of all known contradance groups in the state
In case you didn’t know – contradance is like square dancing, but usually in lines.
- Contra Borealis Dancers Fairbanks. For those who love good music and almost know left from right. Beginners are welcome. Every first Friday and 3rd Saturday at Pioneer Park Dance Hall – 8:00 pm September through May with an abbreviated summer schedule. You can pay $10.00 at the door, or become a member, which gets you in a bit cheaper, plus gives you access to their annual dance camp weekend at Lost Lake (near Harding Lake) Labor Day weekend – a real blast. Call 907-488-2001 or info@contraborealis.org.
- Fairbanks Dance Central – A broader look at the social dance community in Fairbanks.
- Dancing Bears – Anchorage. They do some really bizarre and fun things, like contradancing on ice skates and host a Memorial Day weekend dance camp. Email to akdancingbears@gmail.com or call 907-566-2327
- Juneau Folk Dance Community hosts Thursday Night Contradances, Friday Barn Dances and more>. For Juneau contra info, email doug@juneaucontras.org
- Homer has regular contra and square dances. Email Peggie Ellen at peggy.ellen.k@gmail.com or try Laura Patty at (907) 235-0173 for info.
- Palmer hosts some contra dances. Contact Maria at madoakie@hotmail.com
- Sitka currently has two contra dances in Sitka. The Family Contra Dance and the Contra Dance Plus. Further info, contact Steve Ash at
Steve@SitkaBay.com or 907-747-4550. They also have a Sitka Folk Facebook page where dances may be listed.
Techno Contras in Sitka are hosted by Ben Timby - Kenai – Kenai River Folk Dancers contra dances are held, last I heard, third Saturdays from September through April, 7 to 10 p.m. at Kalifornsky Beach Elementary School between Kenai and Soldotna. They have an open Yahoo group you can check out. For more information, call Heidi Chay – chay(at)alaska.com / 283-9227, or Phil North at panorth(at)alaska.net / 283-2644.
For more info on contradancers and dancing anywhere, try the
- Charlie Seelig’s Rehoboth, Mass. Contra Dance Links – most up to date page out there!
- Country Dance and Song Society of America – mothership of contradance for this continent
- The latest endeavour http://tedcrane.com/DanceDB, a different approach to the huge list that most other pages have from upstate New Yorker Ted Crane.
- The Dance Gypsy offers a U.S. summer dance camp planner on the web, as well as lists of performers and other dance related sites and a regional guide to dances in New England.
- Irish Céilí Net from the folks in seminal Dublin, Ireland, is a new comprehensive page of primarily céilí and set dance links, which the experienced person knows is a close cousin of contradance.
- Closest to Alaska is a fine Seattle Folk Dance page by Matt Fisher.
- Here’s a Cambridge, England contradance connection.
If there is a contradance group in Alaska that is not listed here and would like to be, send the information via email to gary(at)alaskafolkmusic.org .