Please check with a dance's organisers for any late-breaking changes or changes due to public holidaysContra Dancing in Australia and New Zealand
Articles Australia New Zealand Resources
Articles
- On the Quasitrad dance
Australia
- Brisbane QLD
⇒ monthly session on one Saturday – Calendar, Anglican Church Hall, cnr Killarney & Cork Sts, Yeronga (Brisbane) [3/19]
- Canberra ACT
⇒ Canberra Contra Club sessions on 1st & 3rd Tuesdays, North Canberra Baptist Church Hall, 17 Condamine St, Turner – website including special events such as Contra in the Caves in early January [8/18]
⇒ The National Folk Festival over the Easter long weekend regularly presents a contra dance workshop and a dance – NFF website [3/19]
- Hobart TAS
⇒ TasContra, 1st and 3rd Mondays, February thru December, except Easter, 7:30-9:30pm, St James Hall, 462 Elizabeth St, New Town. Website or Facebook. Live music of Moonshine Whiskers and the Ragged Pony. Enquiries: David and Cathy, (03) 6273 2127, or Sarah 0409 218 414, [12/11]- Melbourne VIC
1st Sunday monthly & 3rd Saturday of February, April, August and October. $12 / $6 students. Further details.
Beckett Uniting Church Hall, 72 Highfield Rd, Canterbury. Melway 46 E12 or Tram 70 stop 51 Highfield Rd/Riversdale Rd (4 min walk) or Chatham station (14 min walk) Enquiries: 0422 932 532 [12/18]
⇒ Contra dance and Dutch Crossing, 17th January 2019, 7pm Dutch Crossing (English Country version) 8pm contra, Ashburton Uniting Church Hall, Ashburton Grove, Ashburton, Flyer (.docx format) [12/18]
- Otways Ranges VIC
⇒ The annual Quasitrad Contra is an evening event of Quasitrad Quebec Fiddle Weekend, 1-5 November 2019, held at Pennyroyal Otways Retreat (150km SW from Melbourne). Further details forthcoming on the dance, webpage [3/19]
- Perth WA
⇒ 2nd Sundays, 2-5pm, St Margaret's Church Hall, 58 Tyrell St, Nedlands, $5, live music featuring the megaband. Further details on Facebook. Enquiries: Alison, 0426 410 561, . A YouTube video of the dance. [1/19]
- Sydney NSW
⇒ Almost monthly dance series at Pennant Hills Community Centre main hall, 70 Yarrara Road cnr Ramsay Road, Pennant Hills (Sydney), refer to webpage for dates and themes, $5 [3/16]
⇒ The Bush Music Club offers a contra evening, upon occasion, at a regular bush dance venue
- Regional New South Wales
⇒ The Central Coast Bush Dance offers a contra evening, 14 December 2019, to the music of Pastrami-on-Ryebuck [2/18]
⇒ The Illawarra Folk Festival, often offers a contra dance – festival website
⇒ The Cobargo Folk Festival, 2018 features a workshop and evening dance on Saturday 3rd March – festival website [2/18]
⇒ The Bundanoon DanceFest, 1st weekend of June (Queen's Birthday long weekend), includes contra dance – website
⇒ The Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival, late October, the Canberra Contra Club usually presents a dance – festival website
- Adelaide SA
⇒ ATBDS include contra in the repetoire [12/18]
New Zealand
- Auckland Contra Meetup [3/19]
- ContraDance.nz includes Christchurch, Nelson, Auckland [8/16]
- Auckland – 2nd Saturday and special dances – website [8/16]
- Christchurch – monthly dance on 1st Saturday and house session most Thursdays – website [8/16]
- Dunedin – Monday (weekly except long weekends) – listing [8/16]
- Nelson – 2nd Saturdays – website
- Wellington – monthly dance on 4th Saturday (except October) – website [8/16]
- Allemande Joy Contra February 2018 tour with USA musicians and dancers. includes evening contra dances starting with a week in Nelson and moving on to five other communities. Web page. (With NZ tourist activities for the visitors) Enquiries: Julie or [11/17]
Resources
- Dances written by Peter Foster – pfoster.pcug.org.au/dance/contra.htm
- Dances written by David Gilks – Wayback Machine capture as of 2015
- Dances written by Jeanette MIll
- The Overland Suite collection of contras and other dances by David Wanless, Cathy Hutchinson, Pauline Allingham and Rob Mahony – available at Folk Federation of Tasmania
- Dances written by Keith Woods – keith-wood.name
- Collections of contras by Australians, Down Under Contra (ISBN-13 978-1490995205) [dance titles] and Down Under Contra 2 (ISBN-13 978-1517673321), Available from Amazon USA