Cabin Fever, Knoxville Dance Weekend	Knoxville Contra Dance	Knoxville Dance Gypsies
	knoxville country dancers

Check out our pamphlet: "Welcome to Knoxville Contra Dance"
for tips on technique and etiquette.  Join our Facebook Groups:
Knoxville Contra Dancers, Dance Gypsies or ContrAddiction

ContrAddiction ll
will be on Saturday, September 4, 2010
at Maryville College Chilhowee Club
featuring the Contrarians and calling by Diane Silver!
Registration and flyer

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Save the Date - Cabin Fever!!
February 18-20, 2011
Knoxville Dance Weekend
@ beautiful Maryville College
with the Syncopaths and Contrazz
and caller Carol Ormand

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We dance to live music every Monday night, 8-11 pm, at the Laurel Theater (16th St. and Laurel Ave. [directions]), $7 ($3 for students).

Beginners are welcome, no partner or experience required. It's easy and fun!
New dancers, click here for videos and tips!

* The caller will teach a Beginner's Workshop at 7:30 pm. (Nick Boulet's website)

June-August schedule: printable PDF.  This schedule is chock-full of special bands!

Hear Perpetual e-Motion on the NPR story: Youth Flock to Contra Dancing

Perpetual e-Motion brings together the surreal sounds of electric fiddle, swirling didgeridoo, driving guitar and foot percussion.  This power duo, perched at the convergence of electronic and traditional dance music, is solely the bi-product of two musicians who love to groove and inspire movement.

Perpetual e-Motion begins with the simple statement of traditional, often recognizable dance tunes from Europe and Americas, and proceeds to notch it up into a thrilling composition of complex poly-rhythms, melody and counter melody scaffolding exotic and lush chord structures into an amazingly satisfying musical performance drawing from Celtic, bluegrass, jazz and electronic influences.  The duo is highly regarded throughout New England for their ability to provide hours of driving, pulsating music for contra dances. Born into a musical family, Ed Howe started playing fiddle at the age of 4, learning Suzuki method. His musical interests cover a wide spectrum from bluegrass to Celtic and beyond, and he has been a regular instructor for Maine Fiddle Camp since 2003. Howe has an extensive electronics background, and took an interest in the electric violin.  He plays a 5-string NS Designs electronic violin and is a featured artist on the NS designs artist page.  Ed makes extensive use of the BOSS RC-50 loop station to layer and orchestrate a variety of sounds from his instrument, and watching him play bare footed and operating complex electronic equipment with his feet is a sight to behold. John Coté is a well-known accompanist for many Maine and New England fiddlers and is very active as a private teacher and at Maine Fiddle Camp.  Coté attended the Berklee College of Music both for a five week music program in high school and for two years after high school to study film scoring.  He later transferred to the University of Maine at Augusta's jazz program and earned a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance. At 22 he took an interest in traditional dance music, teaching himself the mandolin and fiddle and helped found the Celtic/world band Wake the Neighbors that has endured to this day.  In this duo, Coté plays a Godin acoustic electric guitar connected into a synthesizer module adding a wide palette of sounds to the music.  Aside from his duties on guitar, Coté simultaneously plays the didgeridoo and foot percussion.  The result is a very lush and complex orchestration of music that defies what one would expect from just two people. More at http://www.perpetuale-motion.com/ Perpetual e-Motion poster

The KCD Schedule is published quarterly (roughly).  It will be sent by email to our subscribers.  If you would like to receive the quarterly schedule along with other occasional announcements of KCD events, please sign up by sending an email to kcdwebmaster @ yahoo.com (omit spaces) saying you would like to join the local info list. There will also be paper copies of the schedule available at the dances.

Booking:

For Monday night scheduling and booking inquiries, contact 
Bill McGowan bbmcgowan @ fastmail.fm.

All other questions: kcdwebmaster  @  yahoo.com.

Newsletters:

Promenade, April 2009
Promenade, November 2008
Promenade, July 2008
Promenade, April 2008
Promenade, January 2008
Promenade, November 2007

What is Contra Dancing?  Contra dancing is a uniquely American community event that has its roots in traditional European and American country dancing.  Each dance consists of a series of figures that are done using a smooth, easy walking step to the rhythm of the music.  The caller teaches each dance by walking the dancers through the moves before the music begins.  He/she continues to remind the dancers what figure is coming next until everyone has picked up the flow of the dance.  The dance music is provided by a live band made up of acoustic musicians, many of whom are also dancers.  Gary Shapiro puts it like this -- 
"A contra dance is like an amusement park ride we make for ourselves." 

Check out our pamphlet: "Welcome to Knoxville Contra Dance"
for tips on technique and etiquette.

Here is a great reference for new dancers,
complete with videos (individually listed below):  
"What is Contra Dancing?"
by Chattahoochee Country Dancers (CCD) in Atlanta

Or get a crash-course with a 10-minute clip of
"Dancing Contras"

"Laurel dance night partners newbies, pros"
an article in the News Sentinel July 2009
by Greg "Not Into Dancing" Wood

"Devoted dancers practice tradition and
welcome even the most hesitant newcomers"
an article in the MetroPulse February 2004
by Paige M. Travis, a dance skeptic

another article in the MetroPulse
by Val Pendergrast, “Dance, Dance, Dance”,
Metro Pulse (vol. 6, no. 33), August 15–22, 1996

See our own Miss Vicki
featured in the Knoxville News Sentinel's: Picture This!

With very rare exceptions we dance every Monday night from 8-11 pm 
at the Laurel Theater at 16th Street and Laurel Avenue [directions].  
Beginners are welcome, 
(it helps to show up early), and no partner is required.  
All dances will be taught.  "If you can walk, you can contra dance."
Admission for all dances is $7 ($3 for students).

You can burn a lot of energy on the dance floor, so we recommend you 
wear loose fitting comfortable clothing with layers that you can remove. 
To preserve our dance space, we request that you wear or bring 
clean non-marking soft-soled shoes for dancing.

Contra Dances in our Sister Cities of Tennessee

Athens/Decatur Area:
1st Friday
http://www.templatehomestead.org/LocalEvents.html

Chattanooga:
2nd & 4th Saturdays
http://www.contranooga.org/ 

Jonesborough:
1st & 3rd Saturdays
http://www.historicjonesboroughdancesociety.com/ 

Memphis:
1st, 3rd & 5th Fridays
http://midtowners.webs.com/contras.htm 

Nashville:
every Friday
http://www.nashvillecountrydancers.org/ 

Sewanee:
once a month, check schedule
http://www.mistycontra.zoomshare.com/0.html 

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More Dancing Around Knoxville

English Country Dancing at the Laurel Theater

Scandinavian Couple Dancing at the Laurel Theater

Oak Ridge International Folk Dancers

Knoxville Swing Dance Association

and the Swing Facebook Group

Greater East Tennessee Dance

KCD Mailing Address - our new mailing address is:

Knoxville Country Dancers
P.O. Box 32817 
Knoxville, TN 37930-2817

We're proud to be an affiliate of

and

Last updated July 7, 2010.  Send corrections to kcdwebmaster  @  yahoo.com.