Address
Contra College 2014
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
We've got quite a line-up for you.
Eric Black began contra & square dancing in the mid-1970s while a student at MIT, and after moving to California started calling dances in 1982 in the New England style. Now, after 32+ years, his calling is more “California”, with a touch of Japanese. Eric has written several dozen dances which have entered the repertoire, and has taught and called contras and squares in nearly all 50 states plus Washington DC and the Virgin Islands, as well as several countries including Russia, Ukraine, England, Scotland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Japan. He is known for his smooth dancing style and easy-going relaxed teaching. Eric has been on the Board of the Bay Area Country Dance Society (BACDS) for most of its 32 year history, founded the Berkeley Wednesday contra in 1982, and was the organizer, programmer, and main caller of the Palo Alto contra from 1983-2009, and has co-managed the American Dance & Music Week for 5 years.
Lea Smith first discovered "folk dancing" at age 13, at a local Recreational Center, in Los Angeles, and hasn't stopped since. She began Contra Dancing in the mid-1980's in Humboldt County, but did not start to call dances untill 2002, in Mendocino County. Now she calls Contras, Irish Set Dance and English Country Dances, and teaches Waltzing, mostly in Mendo, Lake, and Sonoma Counties. She teaches Beginning Social Waltzing and hosts a ninety minute Morning Waltz every morning at LarkCamp, has served on the committee for BACDS American Dance and Music Week for ten years, and is the back-up caller for the monthly Mendocino English Country Dance in Caspar, Ca. Lea loves dancing and feels that the whole music/dance thing is the most connecting and uplifting thing that we humans do.
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 has become a dance gypsy, dancing in 17 different locations in 2013, and has recently started to call contra dances. She maintains an online Contra calendar 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.