People congregate in Yakima to contra dance
Yakima Herald-Republic
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Apple Country Contra Dancers Oct. 9, 2010
YAKIMA, Wash. -- Drawn by a musical thread of piano, guitar and fiddle, lines of dancers briefly meet, then step and spin along the creaky-in-places wooden floor of the Broadway Grange 647.
The night's caller, Gary Miller, cues the next move and laughs arise from smiles amid a momentary pandemonium as the dance heads one way and some dancers another.
It's the second Saturday of the month and the hall on West Washington Avenue in Yakima ebbs and flows with energy. Here, the Apple Country Contra Dancers dance as they have for the past 27 years.
Everyone is welcome, beginners to experts. A jar near the entry is about half full of donations that help pay a modest hall rental fee and the musicians.
Carrying some similarities to square dancing, contra dance has its roots in the British Isles, French courts, Canada and the Northeastern United States, according to Shelly Jenkins. She started contra dancing in Yakima after she moved here from Connecticut in 1980 to take a job as a physician assistant. "It's a different crowd," Jenkins said about contra dance versus square dancing. "A different music, a different feel."
People face one another and dance in lines as couples and dance with other couples down the line, which can run the length of the dance floor. The music tends to be jigs, reels and hornpipes.
A caller teaches the dance to beginners and then guides the dancers, beginning and advanced.
"Everyone started not knowing what they're doing," Jenkins said. "It's not about doing it right, it's about having fun."
*****
Jenkins organizes the dances, sometimes calls them, sometimes plays the music, frequently dances and acts as CEO of the nonprofit.
An avid contra dancer, Jenkins found no contra dances when she arrived in Yakima.
In 1982, she put on a workshop on how to contra dance at Ahtanum Youth Park that attracted 12 people.
After that, she started weekly classes and, before long, enough people were involved that she organized the first dance.
Two people in that first class were Phyllis and Ivar Dolph, who have since moved from the Yakima area. But they still dance, according to their son, Eric Dolph, who is a fixture at the dances today.
Dolph got into international folk dancing in high school, but eventually made the transition to contra dance.
"These are dance tunes that have come down through time," Dolph said. "Your feet just want to go."
*****
Jenkins has formed bands of local musicians to play the dances, but groups continue to come from all over to play the hall because of its reputation for enthusiastic crowds.
Musician Marcy Kubbs is one of them.
The pianist from Seattle has come to Yakima to play a dance for the past three years. Along with praising Jenkins' hospitality and blueberry pancakes, she talks about the enthusiasm of the dancers in Yakima. "People think the band gives energy to the dancers," Kubbs said. "But it comes back the other way."
Jenkins remembers a dance when a large group of high school students showed up and changed the dynamic.
"The energy is really critical," Jenkins said. "There's a critical mass from the dancers' energy that jacks up the band and jacks up the dancers."
*****
As dancing continues through the evening, children run around, join in, bob and weave above the dancers on the shoulders of their parents. Some simply sit and watch from the laps of their parents and grandparents, seated around the edge of the dance floor.
Off in a corner, a mother in a long skirt reads a story to her son on a blanket strewn with books and toys.
"It's a great community activity," Jenkins said. "And it's inter-generational. The events are family-friendly and smoking, alcohol and drug free.
This first dance of the eight-month season drew about 50 people, and Jenkins is hoping to get more people involved.
Steve Manske, and his date, Linda Evans, brought along more than 15 friends who they had over for a potluck. After the dance, they were all headed back for root beer floats.
"It's a good community activity and a lot of fun," Manske said. "It's a whole, huge subculture. People are here to dance."
*****
The night's caller, Gary Miller, cues the next move and laughs arise from smiles amid a momentary pandemonium as the dance heads one way and some dancers another.
It's the second Saturday of the month and the hall on West Washington Avenue in Yakima ebbs and flows with energy. Here, the Apple Country Contra Dancers dance as they have for the past 27 years.
Everyone is welcome, beginners to experts. A jar near the entry is about half full of donations that help pay a modest hall rental fee and the musicians.
Carrying some similarities to square dancing, contra dance has its roots in the British Isles, French courts, Canada and the Northeastern United States, according to Shelly Jenkins. She started contra dancing in Yakima after she moved here from Connecticut in 1980 to take a job as a physician assistant. "It's a different crowd," Jenkins said about contra dance versus square dancing. "A different music, a different feel."
People face one another and dance in lines as couples and dance with other couples down the line, which can run the length of the dance floor. The music tends to be jigs, reels and hornpipes.
A caller teaches the dance to beginners and then guides the dancers, beginning and advanced.
"Everyone started not knowing what they're doing," Jenkins said. "It's not about doing it right, it's about having fun."
*****
Jenkins organizes the dances, sometimes calls them, sometimes plays the music, frequently dances and acts as CEO of the nonprofit.
An avid contra dancer, Jenkins found no contra dances when she arrived in Yakima.
In 1982, she put on a workshop on how to contra dance at Ahtanum Youth Park that attracted 12 people.
After that, she started weekly classes and, before long, enough people were involved that she organized the first dance.
Two people in that first class were Phyllis and Ivar Dolph, who have since moved from the Yakima area. But they still dance, according to their son, Eric Dolph, who is a fixture at the dances today.
Dolph got into international folk dancing in high school, but eventually made the transition to contra dance.
"These are dance tunes that have come down through time," Dolph said. "Your feet just want to go."
*****
Jenkins has formed bands of local musicians to play the dances, but groups continue to come from all over to play the hall because of its reputation for enthusiastic crowds.
Musician Marcy Kubbs is one of them.
The pianist from Seattle has come to Yakima to play a dance for the past three years. Along with praising Jenkins' hospitality and blueberry pancakes, she talks about the enthusiasm of the dancers in Yakima. "People think the band gives energy to the dancers," Kubbs said. "But it comes back the other way."
Jenkins remembers a dance when a large group of high school students showed up and changed the dynamic.
"The energy is really critical," Jenkins said. "There's a critical mass from the dancers' energy that jacks up the band and jacks up the dancers."
*****
As dancing continues through the evening, children run around, join in, bob and weave above the dancers on the shoulders of their parents. Some simply sit and watch from the laps of their parents and grandparents, seated around the edge of the dance floor.
Off in a corner, a mother in a long skirt reads a story to her son on a blanket strewn with books and toys.
"It's a great community activity," Jenkins said. "And it's inter-generational. The events are family-friendly and smoking, alcohol and drug free.
This first dance of the eight-month season drew about 50 people, and Jenkins is hoping to get more people involved.
Steve Manske, and his date, Linda Evans, brought along more than 15 friends who they had over for a potluck. After the dance, they were all headed back for root beer floats.
"It's a good community activity and a lot of fun," Manske said. "It's a whole, huge subculture. People are here to dance."
*****
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