In the trendy nightclub district of Ballard, there is, of all things, a square dance. At the Tractor Tavern, once a month, a big horde of twenty-somethings pack the place and dance. To a caller. In squares. And it's completely non-ironic. Everyone is having the time of their lives, even if they're not very good at it.
Long time dance caller and organizer Sherry Nevins is one of the regular callers. The Tallboys is the house band, this night joined by Tony Mates on bass. Sherry is calling a dance repertoire that would not be out of place at a community center family dance. She starts with a circle mixer, then a simple visiting square where she gently introduces the concept of a Grand Chain and a Corner Allemande.
The energy is way playful. I see a couple of familiar faces from the contra floor, and once in a great while I find a partner who knows how to hold herself in a swing position, but mostly it's an unfettered, naive enthusiasm set loose. It's basic social interaction with physical contact, and a little alcohol, and everyone is doing it so it must be cool. For an older dancer like myself, the irony could not be more rich.
Contras are, apparently, seen as staid and old fashioned, just like we thought of squares a decade and a half ago. If this were called a contra dance night, none of these people would be here. But it's a square dance, and the place is packed.
At the waltz I danced with Sherry. "When I called 'Box the Gnat', I heard someone say, 'That's a contra dance move!' Which is really funny since it's a Western Square dance move." The contra dancers stole it from the square dancers, and it apparently belongs to us now. As I said, the evening is rich with irony. But not in the dancing, or the fun. That is the purest thing in the room.
On a photographic note: the bar was one of these no-lighting-found-in-nature type places. I shot at 3200 at a third of a second for the evening (I wasn't ready to go fill-flash intrusive mode just yet here). The stage, of course, was much brighter than the hall, yet my histogram kept telling me I was underexposed. I dialed in a stop and a half over, and still I wasn't clipping and yet my shadows were dropping off the left end.
Never believe the camera histogram again, is what I learned. Not when the light's this weird. Back home, the stage photos looked like those posterized color lith images from the late 60's. Amazingly, I was able to correct them into near acceptability with ACR 4.1.
Here's before and after. The after I got with the recovery slider at 100%, the Brightness slider all the way to the right, and the exposure dropped way down (-3.5 or below) until the highlights lost their diseased look. I brought back the shadows with a little Fill Light and a lowering of the Contrast slider. With all three channels whacked this would have looked horrible, but with only one gone it almost looks right. Before CS3 this couldn't have happened.
The rest of the photos, per usual, on Flickr.
Sort of not totally on topic, but, if you're in the mood for a movie, go see "Becoming Jane". Why am I recommending this movie to you - beyond the fact that it's good - you ask? Keep your eyes and ear peeled for the "contra dance" reference!
Posted by: stephen connor | August 14, 2007 at 08:49 PM
Cool, a non-MW square dance. Do you know of any others?
Posted by: anonymous | January 31, 2008 at 11:34 AM
If you're in the Northwest, we're becoming a hotbed for community, non MWSD dancing. Portland had a dance weekend recently, "Dare To Be Square," and we're starting to see more squares called at contra dances. Everything comes around. If you're in the Northeast, search out a Ralph Sweet dance, who was recently feted at the Ralph Page Legacy Dance Weekend, or do a search for Kathy Anderson, one of the greatest ever midwest square callers. Or anything Tony Parkes calls--I have never had so much fun dancing squares as done by him.
Posted by: Doug Plummer | January 31, 2008 at 11:42 AM