Dance!

                Contra dancing is a very unique experience whether you know how to dance or not. It gives you a chance to meet new people that you normally wouldn’t come around. Going contra dancing gives a look at how people in the world connect. I think it was a fun event, and I can see myself going again. The dancing was very different as if you were to go to a club. There are a lot of ways that contra dancing is participatory, because we are all dancing. There are a lot of benefits to participatory music making, main one is it brings people close together.

                The whole experience made me feel more connected with the people from the community. It also made me feel more connected with the class. To me it made me feel confident, because I wasn’t the only one that couldn’t dance so to me it wasn’t embarrassing to mess up the steps. If you were to go to a get together with a group of college students our age, the dancing would have the contact that contra dancing has but in a more sexual way. At a college party you probably wouldn’t have a chance to get to know everyone you dance with. At contra dancing there are a lot of older folks and they take the time to ask your name and how you are doing, it makes you feel more welcomed in a dancing sense. Where if you went around at a party and asked everyone their name they would think it’s weird. The music is very different; at the contra dancing there is a live band that plays an easy tempo to dance to. At a party it might be a DJ and most they time it is not popular to play a more country type of tune it is mainly hip-hop or rap.

                This event was a very exciting event, compared to what I normally go to with my family. I normally go and listen to my cousin Jimmie Bussell play and we always square dance. Going contra dancing reminded me of home and getting together with strangers to have fun. I would defiantly go again to the contra dance, because it gave me a sense of home. When I get to know more people on campus I would like to take them to the dancing because it gives us a chance to be more of a part of the Bloomington community!

                One interesting thing that I noticed was that when you danced with older people they would dance close and hold you to their body. As a teenage girl we find that creepy but when you look at it more in depth you can look at it as it is part of the dance. I see it as when their doing the dance they have been doing it for a while and so holding someone closer is showing them that they want to feel a sense of connection with the other dancers. Being new it was very weird at first to be close to someone older dancing but, after the first dance it was kind of a comforting feeling like I was having fun. I had a feeling of belonging to the community and, me coming from a rival campus to feel accepted in the community is a bigger deal than thought out to be.

                There are a lot of benefits to participatory music making. One of the benefits would have to be it brings people together in a sense of community. When we were contra dancing you did not see people sitting out. If you tried to sit it wouldn’t be for very long, the elderly or experienced dancers would come grab you and bring you on to the dance floor. They look at it as if you are coming to contra dancing then you will dance, it is almost as if it is normal. Having participatory music makes you want to join in and become more social, the environment is always a simple, accepting place.

                In conclusion, the whole over all experience of contra dancing was great, fun and new way of meeting people. At first it is complicated to learn the dance but, everyone is so welcoming to help you out learning the dance. The people that show up at the contra dancing are very use to being close to the dancers and after a while it makes you comfortable. The environment is very opposite to a college get together. I would defiantly see myself going again to get that sense of home in my life. The whole experience is a great example of participatory music in a big community.