Visit the OFB Thursday Dance page for details about our weekly dance at Warren Wilson College.
Visit the websites for these other nearby dances:
- The Asheville Monday Night Dance happens every Monday at 9 Genevieve Circle, Asheville, 28801. The building, which looks like an Old Church, is located across from the newer Medical Ferguson Building and has ample parking. Map
Occasional special events, check the calendar for location and time. - River Falls Dance
- Jonesborough TN dance
What is Contra?
Contra dancing is a community dance. You dance with a partner, but dance partners change after each dance so one can come alone and find a partner! Learning it is easy- a 30-minute lesson gets you started. No fancy footwork- just walking! You and a partner dance with other pairs of dancers, moving in time to the music, and magically find yourselves dancing with the next neighbor pair to do it again and again. It’s a concert where you don’t have to sit still, and it often feels like you are dancing with everyone in the room. It is a safe, inclusive, and fun environment that results in a sore jaw from so much smiling!
Contra dancing draws from the style of dancing you have seen in the films Pride and Prejudice and Glory, has similarities to square dancing, often incorporates some swing dance moves, is danced to high-energy live fiddle music, and has a bit of counter-culture feel to it. Dancers range in age from 5 to 85, and often there are 200 of them on the dance floor!
Asheville Contra
Asheville has a rich contra dance scene. Within an 80-minute drive, there are contra dances at 6 locations, with dancing available about 160 days per year! Over one hundred are available within minutes of Asheville!
The oldest contra dance in the Asheville area is sponsored by us and is held every Thursday on the Warren Wilson campus about 9 miles from Asheville. There is a dance in downtown Asheville almost every Monday evening at the Ivy Building on the ABTech campus, sponsored by another group. Regular contra dances are held nearby in Jonesborough, TN, and River Falls, SC. Carpools to these dances make great opportunities to meet friends!
Testimonials
Here are some quotes from folks who are contra dancers, thinking back to their first experience with contra dancing.
- “I can do that! They are just walking!”
- “Contra Dance…was love at first dance.”
- “Smiles and holding hands, twirling to the music, dancing up and down a line of friendly folks!“
- “Even a wallflower with two left feet (like me) can do it!“
- “Me, dancing? Me, dancing!!!!!”
- “I smiled so much my cheeks hurt.”
- “I’d never danced, period. I went to hear the band! I parked myself against the wall to watch and quickly got dragged onto the floor. The rest is history!”