Online Contra and English Country Dances
updated 1/14/24
During the COVID19 pandemic starting March 2020, many dance series went online, mostly using Zoom. Choreographers adapted existing dances (or wrote new dances) for solo or couples, technical folks figured out how to sync up callers and musicians in different locations, and new dance communities, independent of geography, were created.
The highlight was the Sea-to-Sea New Years Eve event on Dec 31 2020, where the New Year was celebrated across multiple time zones, with multiple breakout rooms for dances of various genres, concerts, singing, jamming, and games.
As in-person dances resumed, the online offerings became fewer, but there are still opportunities.
This page lists dances only - online workshops, hosted jams, online sings, interviews, and online concert series will be documented elsewhere.
You can find some events by going to https://cdss.org/events/ and checking Event Category = Online Event.
Also check Judith's Virtual Events Calendar at the National Folk Organization, which includes other folk dance genres in addition to ECD. This calendar will display events in your local timezone.
Oddly Even Sundays (originally Odd Sundays)
English Country Dancing
2nd & 4th Sundays 1:30pm-2:30pm PT
Sharon Green & Kalia Kliban (SF Bay Area) calling to recorded music
loosely affiliated with BACDS & NBCDS
Join the mailing list to receive the invitation containing the Zoom link, typically sent Thurs before & Sunday (day of)
Checking the Music workshops and jams checkbox adds you to the Oddly Even Sundays Open Band - all are welcome to play along muted. You can expect an additional email with set lists and pointers to the music and video or audio links. Be sure you check English Dances as well to receive the Zoom links.
This series and BACDS sponsored new dance-length recordings by the Odd Sundays Garage Band (Judy Linsenberg, Shira Kammen and Patti Cobb). These recordings can be downloaded from https://www.bacds.org/odd-sundays
Symmetry English Dances
Every Tuesday and Sunday (2 pm Eastern)
Every first Thursday (7 pm Eastern)
Board Members and callers are from the UK, USA, and Canada.
U.K. musicians Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer often play live; they supply music from their website for folks who want to play along. Otherwise recorded music is used.
San Diego English Country Dancers
Usually Thursday 7pm; rotating cast of callers (Judee Pronovost, Martha Wild, Alice Williams)
Check the SDECD calendar, which includes both in-person and Zoom dances. The same page includes instructions for joining the email list to receive the weekly invitation.
Judee Pronovost - English dance
Wed 12pm PT
contact: judithpronovost AT mac.com to get on the mailing list
All Hands In Contra (and Community Night)
Online contra dance (live or recorded music) 1st & 3rd Tues 8pm ET, alternates with Community night (online games)
This series is the combined effort of folks from Atlanta, Toronto, and other dance communities.
https://www.facebook.com/allhandsincontra
To join the mailing list, click Subscribe at
https://listserv.cc.emory.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A0=ALL-HANDS-IN
FTWK (For Those Who Know)
Sat 10:30am CT
Rebekah Valencia leads English Country dances to recorded music; the list of dances is sent in advance for folks to study.
Contact rebekahvalencia AT gmail.com to join the mailing list