Each year (2014,
2015,
2016,
2017,
2018,
2019,
2023)
I put out a list of how many dance
weekends, festivals, camps, and long dances contra bands and callers
are doing. I don't really know why I do this, but it's about an hours
work on top of that I'm already collecting for
trycontra.com/events so I
might as well keep doing it!
In 2023 I saw that the total number of events (107) was down 20% from
2019 (132), where a lot didn't come back from the pandemic. This year
we're back up to pre-pandemic levels, with 131, which is great to see!
Bands
| River Road |
9
|
| Countercurrent |
8
|
| Playing with Fyre |
8
|
| Drive Train |
7
|
| Hot Coffee Breakdown |
7
|
| The Engine Room |
7
|
| Stomp Rocket |
6
|
| Toss the Possum |
6
|
| Wild Asparagus |
6
|
| The Dam Beavers |
6
|
| Eloise &co |
5
|
| Elixir |
4
|
| Kingfisher |
3
|
| Nova |
3
|
| Open Band |
3
|
| Stove Dragon |
3
|
| The Mean Lids |
3
|
| The Moving Violations |
3
|
| The Stringrays |
3
|
| The Syncopaths |
3
|
| 3 Wheel Drive |
2
|
| Audacious |
2
|
| Contra Sutra |
2
|
| Contraforce |
2
|
| Contrasaurus |
2
|
| Good Company |
2
|
| Joyride |
2
|
| Lake Effect |
2
|
| Lighthouse |
2
|
| Meadowhawk |
2
|
| Notorious |
2
|
| Pimento Mori |
2
|
| Raise the Roof |
2
|
| Riptide |
2
|
| Rushfest |
2
|
| Supertrad |
2
|
| The Faux Paws |
2
|
| The Ice Cream Truckers |
2
|
| The Latter Day Lizards |
2
|
| Thunderwing |
2
|
Callers
| Will Mentor |
19
|
| Gaye Fifer |
15
|
| Alex Deis-Lauby |
13
|
| Lisa Greenleaf |
12
|
| Bob Isaacs |
10
|
| Seth Tepfer |
9
|
| George Marshall |
8
|
| Susan Petrick |
7
|
| Terry Doyle |
7
|
| Cis Hinkle |
5
|
| Janine Smith |
5
|
| Lindsey Dono |
5
|
| Mary Wesley |
5
|
| Nils Fredland |
5
|
| Adina Gordon |
4
|
| Maia McCormick |
4
|
| Steve Zakon-Anderson |
4
|
| Wendy Graham Settle |
4
|
| Ben Sachs-Hamilton |
3
|
| Charlie Turner |
3
|
| Darlene Underwood |
3
|
| Devin Pohly |
3
|
| Emily Rush |
3
|
| Isaac Banner |
3
|
| Jacqui Grennan |
3
|
| Koren Wake |
3
|
| Michael Karcher |
3
|
| River Rainbowface Abel |
3
|
| Scott Higgs |
3
|
| Chris Page |
2
|
| Claire Takemori |
2
|
| Dereck Kalish |
2
|
| Donna Hunt |
2
|
| Frannie Marr |
2
|
| Jeremy Korr |
2
|
| Katie Zanders |
2
|
| Liz Nelson |
2
|
| Louise Siddons |
2
|
| Open Calling |
2
|
| Open calling |
2
|
| Rick Mohr |
2
|
| Sarah Kaiser |
2
|
| Susan Kevra |
2
|
| Susan Michaels |
2
|
| Warren Doyle |
2
|
Referenced in:
Comment via: facebook, lesswrong, mastodon
Do you know any good family contra dance in NJ by any chance? Would love to know for my relative there.
Andre I normally use trycontra.com when I'm trying to find dances. NJ is pretty tall so the best one probably depends on where they are?
jeez Will!
What Hanno said. Thank you Jeff for collecting this data. Very interesting.
Thanks for doing this. Very informative
awesome list.
I've now updated the list to include full listings for NEFFA and NW Folklife (thanks Lindsey for sending me the Folklife list, and pushing me to do this!)
Jeff, that's awesome. What's the best way to send you additional info?
Marni The source of the data is this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/.../1fQq7pTtNVMYVRgOPbjNz.../edit... If there are things missing or wrong, the best way to let me know is an …
Someday... someday I will make "the list"! <shakes fist at cloud>
Jeff, do you have any data on the gender ratios of staff at these events? Something I’ve been tracking recently at events I attend, but would be interesting to see data on a larger scale.
RoseI am curious too!
I'm also curious about this.
Rose recent analysis of callers: https://www.jefftk.com/p/contra-caller-gender-iii Older analysis of musicians: https://www.jefftk.com/.../contra-dance-weekend-musician... (my vague sense is this has shifted towards more women over the last …
Jeff Kaufman I wonder what the trend would show if you redid this analysis every ~5 years or so. It's tempting to think the ratios have improved but I wouldn't take it for granted. There's also the question of whether the gender distribution for weeken…
I'm curious also about the current trend- from what I have observed anecdotally, the current musician gender balance is pretty similar or maybe ever so slightly more balanced. It's kind of discouraging as a non-male contra musician.
Jeff Kaufman I'd also be curious about an age distribution overall, and how that interacts with the gender balance. My anecdata points to improved gender balance with people in their 20s, but then as more of the women get into relationships and have ch…
Sarah I also wonder if I'm biased, but as a woman with young kids who also plays for dances, it very often feels like I'm one of the only more middle aged people in a sea of significantly younger or older folks, particularly in the category of "…
Rosejust played another multi-band weekend where all the other musicians were male
i say "another" because it happens ALL THE TIME
BethanyYeah....playing one soon where it's me and one other woman out of 12ish performers, and that is not unusual.
One small data error: I see Eloise & Co. is listed twice.
Samuel Whoops! Those two should have been combined (it was with and without the "." in "&co.") and now have been.