Roaring Jelly. Photo by James Theiler

COMMUNITY News:

Roaring Jelly, a local Celtic/ Americana band, will play and Donna Howell, a local dance teacher and radio personality, will be the caller at a contra dance Saturday, Aug 16 at the Posse Lodge in Los Alamos.

Before the dance, which starts at 7:30 p.m., there will be a short lesson at 7 p.m. The $8 admission fee will benefit the Los Alamos Sheriff’s Posse. Partners are not necessary.

Contra is a social dance that is like square dancing in that a caller announces the sequence of figures for the dancers as they execute them. For contra, couples are arranged in pairs of lines and each couple progresses through the opposing line of couples. Thus, by the end of the evening, each dancer will have danced at least a few figures with almost every other dancer.

Contra dances are held twice a month at the Santa Fe Odd Fellows Hall.  

“Contra dancing is very beginner friendly. In addition to the friendly helpful folks who make up the community, you have constant reminders from the caller about what you should be doing,” organizer Andy Fraser said.

Annie Bard had the idea of this dance event when she came with Donna Howell to a country and western dance at the Posse Lodge more than a year ago, Fraser said. There, they met Roaring Jelly member Bette Korber. Although both Howell and Korber are renowned biologists, the shared interest they talked about was folk music. Robin Gurule, another member of the Roaring Jelly band, organizes the regular contra dances at the Odd Fellows Hall and has helped get the dance at the Posse Lodge launched.