Austin Barn Dancers Community Contra Dance
May 21 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm CDT
Contradancing in Austin originated when AFTM (Austin Friends of Traditional Music) started a jam session at Hancock Recreation Center (click here for map) over 30 years ago or so. Somebody (the name was lost in time) said “Hey, this is a good dance floor so let’s dance!” and thus the dancing started. The dancing went through several variations and around 1990 became predominately contradance.
To this day the Wednesday night dance at HRC is still a community dance with an average of 40-60 dancers and and occasional 75 dancing to the music of LOCO (Local On-Call Orchestra) – an open band of 3-10+ members with many excellent musicians, where anyone is welcome to come and play. The callers will call a variety of dances, whether it be contras, squares, circles, or whatever. This is a free dance courtesy of the City of Austin and Austin Parks and Recreation Department.
The Austin Barn Dancers meet every Wednesday night at Hancock Recreation Center from 7:30 until 9:45.