Contra Dancing!

I had more fun at this event than any other event with dancing that I've been to in my life. I have always been an awful dancer, but I can usually figure out some way to have a good time no matter how ridiculous my moves are. It makes it a lot more challenging in a normal high school dance (such as a nightclub setting) where everyone is judging you and trying to establish dominance. In a sense, everyone goes in there with a competitive mindset, which usually makes me insecure and much harder to achieve a flow state or even enjoyment while on the dance floor. However, this environment was perfect for me. I believe that what made it so great were the aspects of the dance that are lacking in more stereotypical high school dances and raves. To start, the non-competitive atmosphere was unlike anything I've ever seen. The dancing wasn't about trying to impress others or show dominance over any other person, but to help each other out to achieve a level of communitas and group collaboration so that everyone is having a good time and participating. The helpful atmosphere contributes greatly to the welcoming feeling no matter what the dancing skill levels are of the participants. The fact that we got a special introduction to the basic moves of contra dancing, and they went over every move to each dance before every song, allowing everyone to get accustomed to the dance and feel comfortable dancing with their partners and transitioning to different neighbors. Overall, it felt like the experience of going to the contra dance was more about keeping everyone happy and enjoying the atmosphere than the actual dancing. During the dances I was joking around with the people next to me, getting to know them and, slowly but surely, learning the dance moves. However, the effort put into my learning of the moves and collaboration with my partner and the rest of the group, leading to the progression and group involvement that made this participatory event so fun and successful. In the high school dances I went to, the events always had elements that were more important than the dancing. In those cases, people cared more about hooking up with someone else or at least drawing attention and establishing dominance than the actual dancing. However, these all contributed to the competitive atmosphere that wasn't prevalent in the slightest at the contra dance.

I definitely plan to attend this event again. I had more fun dancing last night than any other time I remember due to the inclusive and friendly atmosphere. Everyone had a different skill level, but everyone was just as enthusiastic to dance with one person as any other. Everyone was willing and excited to teach and learn from what I saw, and it ended up creating an atmosphere that established an unbelievably high level of communitas, making flow states much more easily accessible and powerful than any other social event of that size that I've been to in a long time.

Events like these show the amazing opportunities that participatory music and social situations create that wouldn't be possible in another type of scenario. The friendly and positive atmosphere no matter what dance was being done or who people were partnered with was extraordinary and allowed me to enjoy myself more than any other event of that size that I had been to in a long time. When everyone is willing to participate with anyone who wants to dance, it creates an inclusive atmosphere that can only be achieved in participatory situations, allowing for the most collective enjoyment of any other form of music and social situations in groups of that size. In my opinion, the biggest benefit of this form of presentation is that the more effort being put in will lead to much more being taken from it. Skill level doesn't matter in whatever the activity is, the only thing that counts is doing a personal best and staying involved and engaged throughout the participatory event. This allows for people like me, who may be awful at dancing or whatever activity is being done, to join in and not be looked down upon for my lack of skill due to the goals of getting the most participation and having the most social interaction. Participatory situations care more about establishing communitas and working together to achieve flow states as opposed to a competitive atmosphere where people are trying to show off their talent or at least prove their dominance to others. Contra dancing may only be one of the many forms of participatory music, however, it opened my eyes to the effects of this form of social situation and showed the fantastic effect it can have on a group of people individually and coming together collectively.