The Contra Dance

Wow. So much has happened in just four weeks.

I low key didn’t believe our professors when they said that the shore component would fly by. But I was wrong. It’s like these past four weeks lasted approximately five minutes. There’s been a lot of book learning, which is interesting. But there has also been a surprisingly large amount of time for exploring. SEA’s campus is between Falmouth and Woods Hole, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. So it’s got a pretty great location.

Besides some late nights in the library, practicing navigational skills on a chart of the coast around the Cape, some of the highlights of the Shore component of my semester included gorgeous bike rides, a trip to Martha’s vineyard, and a contra dance late one Saturday night.

The contra dance was a spur of the moment study break kind of decision. I’d just gotten back to my room just after working out and was still covered sweat when I heard G call my name from the door to our house. “Paige! Want to go contra dancing?”

“What? Yes! When is it?” I asked, looking at my watch. It was 8 pm.

“Now! Some folks just left and I want to join in!” She said, making her way upstairs.

And so after a quick change into a dress me and G got into her car and drove to a little church a solid 20 minutes away, where an unbelievably fun night awaited.

I’d never been contra dancing. Yes, I am on the listserve at Whitman, but I have never gone. Not once. So, honestly, I had no idea what I was in for.

We got there midway through a dance. G and I made ourselves comfortable on the church chairs the dancers had moved off to the sides, watching the folks in the center of the room work their way through the steps as they learned them. And then the dance actually started in earnest. The music picked up. The caller repeated his instructions. And the thirty or so folks winding their way across the center of this tiny church tried their hardest to keep up with the dance. There were some folks who knew what they were doing. They’d probably danced this particular dance a hundred times before. Others were definitely new to this contra thing. They looked as confused as I felt just watching the dance.

So eventually I joined the dance. G and I partnered up for the first round. And after, like, a gazillion mistakes and lots of confusion, I eventually figured out to turn at the right time and spin your partner and move on to the next step.

Actually I was really fun.

Fast forward 45 minutes and I felt like I could probably make a convincing character in one of those essential town dance scenes in a Jane Austen novel. Like, I can spin pretty elegantly around my partner. Must be all those years of musical theatre finally paying off in a tiny church somewhere on Cape Cod.

On the drive back to campus, I didn’t think about all the work I needed to do. Contra dancing was the exact spur of the moment study break thing I needed. Except it was a whole lot more than just a study break. A trying something new kinda nerve wracking experience.  A chance to talk with folks who live around here. Unbelievably fun. Worth it for the fun. For the confidence that grew throughout the evening. For those brief moments, finally figuring out the dance, feeling pretty elegant.

 

 

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