Address
Contra College 2012
c/o Les Addison
123 Jasmine Avenue
East Palo Alto, CA 94043
Email Address
info@ContraCollege.com
Phone Number
510 599 2219
Sponsored By
Bay Area Country Dance Society
In Collaboration With
North Bay Country Dance Society
Traditional Dancers of the Golden State
Traditional Dancers of Santa Cruz
By profession Susan Petrick is a cognitive psychologist who does software usability research for Google in the Bay area. She has been calling for twelve years, and is gaining national prominence in the contra dance world. She strives to program interesting, varied dances with great flow, and to teach them clearly and concisely. She has enjoyed working with wonderful bands, traveling and calling throughout the country in addition to up and down the West Coast.
Susan was invited to join the staff of Contra College because of her exceptionally clear teaching, expert pacing, and gracious manner. Her efficient guidance makes even complex dances accessible to all. At Contra College 2010 and 2011, she enjoyed the opportunity of spending a weekend working with new and intermediate dancers. It was rewarding to help others learn dance and fun to watch dancers internalize new forms and express themselves. She also really liked the opportunity to work in a discussion forum model, with questions from dancers driving much of the discussion. Susan also liked the way the small-group setting led to an intimate feeling for the weekend.
Nick Cuccia will be back once more, this year acting as TA as well as sound technician. Highly regarded by dancers, musicians, and callers for his high-quality sound work, Nick has also been calling contra and English country dances throughout northern and central California for over a decade. An avid contra, English, and square dancer when he has time, Nick dances with two square dance clubs in the Central Valley, and was one of a handful of students in legendary square dance caller Ralph Sweet's singing square dance calling class at Pinewoods American Week in 2011. Nick expects that his enthusiasm for traditional and modern contra and square dances will prove to be infectious.
Les Addison was raised by a dance teacher and a gym teacher, leading her to believe that physical activity is most worth doing if it is cooperative, set to music, and does not involve scoring points. Her first contra dance was in 2004, and her first contra dance weekend was Contra College 2010, where she learned as much about contra dancing as she had in the previous six years. She dances all over the Bay Area, and maintains a calendar at contra.sf.ca.us to help her (and her friends) get to as many dances as possible. She enjoys dancing both gender roles as well as switching off.
Les sees Contra College as an incredible resource for creating community among new and intermediate contra dancers. Her hope is to make dancing more fun, less intimidating, and more accessible. Les firmly believes that the ability to dance both roles means never having to sit out for lack of partner and has also helped her to be a better dancer. She is extremely grateful to Joyce Fortune for starting Contra College.
Joyce Fortune is a Spanish teacher at a local Bay Area high school. She has been dancing for over five years, mostly contra dance, with some occasional English country dancing. She is a regular attendee at Balance the Bay, Contra Carnivale and dance weekends at Monte Toyon. She has become proficient in both gender roles and enjoys working with newcomers and building the contra dance community. Recently, she has become the main organizer at Palo Alto Contra Dance. She is extremely well-organized, analytical and systematic. She is also friendly and committed to creating great dances that are welcoming to all. She is visually-impaired and knits constantly.
Joyce was frustrated when first learning to do Contra dance by the lack of explicit teaching. As a systematic and analytical thinker, she was hoping for more explanation from workshop leaders at weekend dances. She muddled through and learned to dance, but decided last year that she would try to create for others the kind of experience that she wanted when she was new. She was very pleased with Contra College, so much so that she decided to take the time to do it again!