OMG, Wendy, I *love* your hip-hop contra!! How fun is that? This new fusion of the old dances with new tunes & moves has a lot of juice, and potential to keep the dance alive by intriguing the young folks in particular.
Have you seen the video of Youth Dance Week's late night dancing to Tensta's My Cool? http://vimeo.com/groups/danceoncamera/videos/1786406 Also, once I danced contra to a medley of Beatles tunes at Folklife, which had everyone, of all ages, whooping it up. Sometimes it seems there's quite a tension between the love of oldest traditions, a holding to familiar forms that are neither old nor new, and the desire to experiment with/create new fusion forms like this, gender-neutral calls, the inclusion of swing moves and tunes, etc. I'd love to help our dance communities foster and hold both poles. Have you folks struggled with this tension in your communities? How do you deal with it? Tina
