Contra-dancing has been in the United States since the European settlers arrived. If you’ve ever seen a Jane Austin movie adaptation you probably have seen a stylized version of a contra-dance. If you had to learn to dance the Virginia Reel in elementary school like I did, you have danced a contra-dance.
So you may wonder why in the world would folks want to do those dances today? Well I think the simple answer is that a contra-dance can be a fun way to get together in a social situation. You needn’t worry about having to dress up like an Edwardian socialite, or that anyone has cooties as we feared in elementary school.
My explanations of dance music assume you have some experience with music. If you played piano or read music a bit you will probably get more out of this than if you don’t.