Contra dances aim to bring wholesome activity to Palmer

PALMER — As the dancers learn their cues, sometimes they wind up in the exact wrong spot or well behind the music.

But each and every misstep is greeted with a laugh and a smile. It seems to just make the whole thing more fun.

Welcome to the Contra dance, or at least the Mat-Su’s version of it.

Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. kicked off what organizers hope will be a regular, twice-monthly event at the Salvation Army in Palmer.

Tim Leach with Envision Mat-Su said his group partnered with two other groups — The Dancing Bears and Salvation Army — to set up the dances.

And while you may know Envision Mat-Su from its work in the political realm — it’s deeply involved in the debate over coal development — the dance fits with what the group’s up to. The idea is to help foster a livable community and give people healthy, positive things to do that everyone can agree is fun regardless of his or her politics.

“I know growing up part of the time in Maine, Contra dancing was a big part of a livable community for me,” Leach said into the microphone as he welcomed the group of 22 dancers.

After that, he handed the mic to Robyn Lauster, who was to be the caller that night. Actually, wait, that’s not right.

“Technically, I’m more of a cue-er than a caller,” Lauster said.

The difference?

“Square dancers, they do all that patter,” she said.

You know — “all join hands and circle south, put some moonshine in your mouth” — that sort of thing.

“We don’t do that stuff,” Lauster said.

A cue-er can still be lively, but focuses on just the cues — promenade, do-si-do, swing your partner.

And, eventually, once the group has done the dance a few times, the cue-er can bow out. The dance is the same every time and lasts just 32 bars.

“The music tells them what to do once they’ve learned the pattern,” Lauster said.

Square dancing is often done with records. Proper Contra dancing, though, is done with a band.

Thursday’s band was Shonti Elder. Not the Shonti Elder Band or the Shonti Elder Experience. Just Elder and her fiddle.

Elder said she was one of the founders of The Dancing Bears back in the 1980s. The group does Contra dancing in Anchorage, mostly at Wendler Middle School. She said she loves to both play in the band and dance on the floor, but given her choice she’ll play the fiddle.

“When I first started I just hated it because you play one song for 10 minutes and boy is that boring,” she said.

But she learned there’s an excitement to getting people up and dancing.

Leach said the idea to set up some Contra dances came at around Alaska State Fair time. Jeremiah Millen, Envision Mat-Su’s executive director, started talking about it with Gene Backus.

Backus said he liked the idea, but Millen was always so busy he took over the job of organizing it.

“These things are always like, which comes first, the chicken or the egg?” he said.

In this case, what came first was insurance. The Dancing Bears agreed to let the dances happen under its insurance. And then the Salvation Army got onboard and, voila.

As the dancers got to know their moves, it wasn’t long before they were stomping out the beat with their feet. Between dances, Elder said she noticed that, too, and hopes Envision Mat-Su’s effort is a success.

“I sure hope it keeps going because it’s fun to play,” she said.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.

What: Contra dance

Where: Salvation Army building, Palmer

When: Third and fourth Thursday of each month, 7 to 9 p.m.