09/10/2020
Toronto Contra Dancers are hosting a virtual contra night THIS Saturday, September 12, 2020.
“Doors” at 7:00PM, Dance from 7:30 PM - 8:45 PM
Toronto is joining forces with communities across North America to produce All Hands In, a twice-monthly virtual contra dance event open to dancers world-wide.
About All Hands In
All Hands In provides an opportunity for communities who do not have the resources to run their own virtual dance to help produce a local conversation and a collaborative dance experience, at no expense and with only minimal volunteer time.
Participating communities will have social rooms to gather before the dance, and then we will all come together to dance to fabulous tunes and calling! See below for info about Toronto Contra Dance's social room.
If you are hungry for contact with your fellow local dancers, talk it over with your community leaders or local dance friends and let us know if you want to participate.
Whether or not your local group is participating, all dancers are welcome at the dance. Our virtual dance is suitable for solo dancers, and couples as well.
September 12th : Audrey & Max, with Claire Takemori
For our All Hands In kickoff on September 12th, we are excited to feature two musicians who are like “rock stars” in the contra world. Audrey Knuth is a world-renowned fiddler who plays in many bands (Wake Up Robin, Gaslight Tinkers, Free Raisins, Root System, Audacious) and Max Newman is the incredible genius behind the guitar (The Stringrays, Nor’Easter, etc.)
We are delighted to feature Claire Takemori as our caller. Claire has been a driving force for virtual contra dances and connection through the past several months, and embodies the spirit of All Hands In. Her passion is to share the joy of music, dance & community. She has called dances for festivals and communities from coast to coast and beyond, and many virtual dances
this year.
In virtual (on-line) contra dancing, dancers interact with imaginary people ("ghosts") in the majority of dances, so we presume that everyone in attendance has contra dancing experience. Walk throughs are brief and we do not provide a beginners’ lesson. That said, when you dance alone in your living room, the contra line is exactly where you imagine it, and unexpected moves become glorious new choreography! So, everyone is always welcome to join.
To attend the dance, click on the following link:
http://contradance.link/allhandsin
Join the event any time between 7:00PM and 7:30PM Eastern on Saturday. There will be a brief introduction to virtual dancing at 7:30PM, and dancing will begin promptly thereafter.
At in-person dances, an entry fee is collected; for All Hands In, we work on the honor system, asking dancers to make a donation to the band. Recommended donation is $10 (more if you can; less if you can’t).
Our callers and helpers are volunteering, to help our musicians during a difficult time. You can make your donation to our musicians at this link: https://contradance.link/donation
The band has prepared this music specifically for our dance, so please give generously.
All Hands In is scheduled every 2nd and 4th Saturday evening until we can dance in person again. You can keep track of scheduled dances here
https://www.cdss.org/community/covid19/online-events or on the Toronto Contra Dance page.
We have a generous limit of 500 participants, so tell your contra dancing friends, and feel free to reshare this announcement to your local contra dance websites!
Toronto volunteers provide the infrastructure and funding to produce All Hands In, with further volunteer assistance from our participating communities. Communities who want to participate and have not signed up yet can email Becky < president *at* tcdance.org > for further information.
See you at the dance!
We are gathering information on online events for the dance and song community, and we'll post them here as soon as they are available.
