Shared Weight: Contra Callers Discussion List
This mailing list (email group) welcomes contra dance callers and people who are interested in learning about calling for contra dances. List members ask/answer questions, discuss issues that come up for them, and share helpful resources. There are both new and experienced callers from throughout North America and beyond. Join the discussion!
Antony’s collection includes over 21,000 dances from a wide range of traditions.
From Antony Heywood
This website includes a large collection of English barn dances as well as tips for playing, resources for beginners, descriptions of terms, and more.
From Thomas Green
This database includes many different styles of dance searchable by dance title, author, publication, and recording. It does not include the actual dance instructions or accompanying music notation.
Hugh Stewart
A comprehensive description of each of the 50+ basic dance figures in ECD.
from Hugh Stewart
This online bibliography is Neil Kelley’s compendium of where to find dance tunes and descriptions.
This online collection of approximately 100 English country dances comes from some earlier collections (e.g., Thompson; Wilson; Wright) as well as dances composed by Ken Sheffield. Both the music notation as well as instructions for the dance are provided.
From CDSS
Ralph Page Dance Legacy Weekend Syllabi 1998-2017
This is a very extensive collection of traditional dances from New England as called at each annual dance weekend. A significant portion of the program celebrates the tradition’s roots and includes choreography for traditional contras and quadrilles, triple minor dances, singing squares, and couple dances as part of the program.
From RPDLW and UNH
English Country Dance Video Playlists
The Childgrove channel on YouTube is a repository of over 100 videos of English country dancing and is a source of instruction on how to dance many of the finest dances choreographed by Fried de Metz Herman.
From Paul B Ross
The Dancing Master 1651-1728: An Illustrated Compendium
This is an online searchable database of all known country dances published in the various editions of The Dancing Master, published by John Playford, Henry Playford and John Young, from 1651-1728 in London, with facsimiles of each “unique” dance with its music.
Complied by Robert M. Keller
Thanks to the Massachusetts Cultural Council for their generous support.