Contra cancelled due to cold. Sorry, it’s sub zero & windy, so the church building committee is closing Zion for all evening events.

John Teskey calls, and we’ve re-scheduled Open Band for this night, January 21, because the first Tuesday in January got snowed out.

Jonathan Sivier calls to music by LEDfoot. Please join us.

Our January 7, 2014 contra is cancelled due to the extreme cold in Indianapolis. We’ll dance to Michael Hamilton another time.

Our first contra of 2014 is on Tuesday, January 7th, with Open Band (all welcome!) and visiting caller Michael Hamilton.

Michael Hamilton of Akron, OH is a charismatic and artful caller who chooses the right  dances for the situation. His voice calls you to attention, his instructions compel smiles, and he leads you forward with purpose, direction, and joy. He believes dancers can execute any pattern, and with his guidance they will.

We need 3 people interested in helping run Indy Contra, which is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to traditional music and dance (primarily contra and related dance and music).

Every year 1/2 of the board positions are up for election. This year’s vote will be taken during a break at the dance Tuesday, February 11, 2014.

You don’t need specific expertise, beyond ability to work cooperatively, which is a all contra dancers and musicians practice regularly.

If interested, please talk with any current board member or email IndyContra@gmail.com.

We’ll also want a one or two sentence biography/statement of interest for us to use on the slate of candidates, which must be announced by Tuesday, January 28, 2014.

The next two weeks feature church activities on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, so our last dance for the year is LEDfoot with Ryan Smith on December 17. After that next dance: January 7, 2014.

The Mean Lids play Urbana’s contra on Friday, December 13th. That’s just 2 hours away, and on Central Time so you need to leave Indy by 7pm.

Next to last contra for the year. David Ernst calls. Music by  Convolution! The Mean Lid’s Ben Smith’s fast fiddlin’, the Coffee Zombie’s Dianna Davis on accordion, clarinet, and foot percussion; and Vickie Stohl driving the contra tunes on her guitar.

Hope to see you and your friends on the dance floor, wearing clean shoes that you have carried in, not shoes you have walked in wearing. Refinishing the gym floor last year cost over $4,000, so we’ve got to take care of it. Winter means sand and salt and lots of extra risk that we’ll scratch it up; please don’t take it personally when we’re strict about this!

December is short on dancing, because the church needs their hall & parking lot on the 24th & 31st. Come contra to open calling on the 3rd.