Join Indy Contra every Tuesday night in July, and get ready for our State Fair contra in August!

July 7
Convolution and Kristen Planeaux, with Ken Gall
Kristen, a member of The Ripples and Mulberry Street, joins Dianna Davis & Ben Smith, and Ken returns from a trip calling in Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia!

July 14
Deb Shebish and Johnandrew Bellner, with Rhonda Minnich
Check out Deb on Soundcloud!
After the dance, Ken & Carole Gall host their annual ice cream social, at their home near the canal. Directions available at the dance.

July 21
Emily Ann and Kelly Thompson, with Adam Nichols

July 28
Triple A, with Bradley Smith
We have a visiting band! Triple A is Andrew VanNorstrand of Great Bear Trio & Giant Robot dance (on guitar & fiddle), Audrey Knuth (on fiddle& eet), & Amy Englesberg (on keyboard & accordion – no, not fiddle or feet). They’re on a fifteen day tour & we’re lucky enough to be one of their ten stops! They’re also playing the next night, Wednesday the 29th, in Bloomington.

Coming in August:
Friday the 7th, contra at the Indiana State Fair

June 2
Emily Ann and Kelly Thompson with Rhonda Minnich
Emily Ann and Kelly play a mix of dance tunes, from Irish, Scottish, Canadian, and U.S. backgrounds. Rhonda, one of our newest callers, will bring clarity and enthusiasm!

June 9
Mulberry Street with Ryan Smith
Ben Hemmendinger, Perin Ellsworth-Heller, and Kristen Planeaux (of The Ripples) will bring Southern Ohio contra dance energy to us, playing fiddle, foot percussion, guitar, ivories, percussion, & squeezebox! Ryan is a favorite longtime Cincinnati caller, dancer, and community leader!

June 16
Contradiction with Josiah Roberts

Our newest band returns for more: Tobe Woodrough, Dianna Davis, and Mark Conway bring tunes with bluegrass, gypsy jazz, and other exotic influences. Josiah, a Louisville dancer, brings an analytical mind to his calling.

June 17
Board meeting. All welcome.

June 23
Johnandrew Bellner and Deb Shebish with Jonathan Sivier
Deb and Johnandrew bring clever, soulful old time music for dancing. Jonathan brings over twenty years of dancing, calling, and dance research.

June 30
LEDfoot with Bob Duffy
Leslie Selden, Dave Schroeder, Lisa Wagoner Schroeder, and Steve Kobe have played old time music together in many of Indy’s most popular bands. They’ll bring a mix of fiddle, guitar, acoustic bass, flute, mandolin, and more. Bob’s been an Indy Contra caller for years!

Our schedule this month includes a Sunday afternoon contra in addition dancing every Tuesday night:

Tuesday, May 5th
Electro contra: D.R. Shadow with Frank Buschelmann
Wear your flashy, glow in the dark, club attire! We’ll dim the lights and D.E. Shadow (aka Ben Smith) will turn up the bass!

httpv://youtu.be/HodhTOqhhlw

Tuesday, May 12th
Convolution with Bob Duffy
Ben’s back, this time with Dianna Davis, providing acoustic, traditional contra tunes with hints of gypsy, jazz, and swing.

Tuesday, May 19th
LEDfoot with Steven Janowiecki
Leslie Selden, Dave Schroeder, Lisa Wagoner Schroeder, and Steve Kobe have played old time music together in many of Indy’s most popular bands. They’ll bring a mix of fiddle, guitar, acoustic bass, flute, mandolin, and more.

Tuesday, May 26th
Contradiction with Ken Gall
We feature a new band! Contradiction brings together some of Indy’s finest in the folk scene – Katie Burk, a fiddle player with the The Whipstitch Sallies and The Half Step Sisters will be bringing her bluegrass background to the stage with Dianna Davis on her accordion and clarinet.  Mark Conway will provide the rhythmic drive with his styles in bluegrass, gypsy jazz, and old time.  Ken Gall will be calling the dances – lots of local talent on the stage!

Sunday, May 31st
Sunday afternoon with The Ripples & Bradley Smith
They’ll get you groovin’ in no time at all!

2 – 5 pm.
The night before, there’s a contra in Bloomington, IN.

Tuesday, April 7th
Emily Ann and Kelly Thompson with Rhonda Minnich
Emily Ann and Kelly Thompson play Celtic & Old Time, fast, high-energy jigs and reels, captivating airs and songs, with perhaps classical or jazz influences. Rhonda Minnich calls. Rhonda, Indy Contra’s unofficial photographer, will be doing the calling tonight.  She’s been not only calling at Indy Contra, but hitting the open calling around the midwest, and is one of our new regular callers.

Tuesday, April 14th
Convolution with Ken Gall
Mean Lid Ben Smith and Coffee Zombie Dianna Davis draw from minimalism inspirations and such genres as Middle Eastern, Irish, swing, and free improvisation, while Ken Gall calls. “Really fast and efficient, delivering good dances with good humor. No BS, no ego,” says Sam Bartlett.

Tuesday, April 21st
Troika with Adam Nichols
Three quarters of Troika bring the rich and diverse landscape of Eastern European & other folk musics to American contra dancers.  Dianna Davis’ clarinet, driven forward by the punchy rhythms of Mario Joven’s guitar and Adam Riviere’s doumbek.  Adam Nichols calls.

Tuesday, April 28th
Deb Shebish and Johnandrew Bellner with Open calling
Deb Shebish and Johnandrew Bellner are one of Indy’s favorite pair of folk musicians, you can often find these two playing Saturday evenings with Hogeye Navvy or playing Irish trad music at one of the Irish pubs around town.

It’s Open Calling night, so novice and experienced callers are invited to lead a dance or two.  Please contact Adam Nichols if you’re interested, and/or arrive a few minutes early to get on the evening’s schedule.

May 31, 2 – 5 p.m., afternoon contra with music by The Ripples.

We have six contras this month:

March 3rd
Electro Contra!
D.R. Shadow is back to provide the electronic music to spin you across the floor, with Adam Nichols calling the dances.  Check out how much fun we had the last time!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k5_m-U3XQM

Tuesday, March 10th
Ledfoot and Ken Gall – Old time music by Leslie, Dave, Lisa, and Steve, with with Ken, calling back home in Indiana between dance and calling trips all around the country.

Tuesday, March 17th
Relative Harmony and Judy Greenhill – his Ontario-based band plays an energetic blend of traditional New England, Quebecois and Irish/Celtic, with some original tunes added to the mix.

Sunday, March 22nd
Beach Party! – Cincinnati caller Darlene Underwood joins Miriam Larson, Ben Smith, and Matt Turino for an afternoon full of dancing. The Mean Lids have been described as “mesmerizing,” “outstanding,” and “one of the top contra bands in the country,” but then most of you already knew that!

“Beach” attire prizes will be awarded. Snacks (beach themed or not) welcome.

Tuesday, March 24th
Not Tom and Jerry and Deborah Denenfeld – A caller from Louisville, KY, Deborah Denenfeld has a great passion for dancing and will be bringing that excitement to Indy Contra! She has over twenty years of experience leading dance at schools, weddings, retreats, and of course contra communities like ours. She also recently has started a contra dance program for veterans in Louisville!  Tom Cunningham (fiddle player from the Coffee Zombies!) and Ben Andrews (gypsy jazz guitarist) will provide all the swingin’ tunes.

Tuesday, March 31st
Convolution and Bob Duffy – Indy’s “house band” Convolution is back on the stage to provide all your music needs for the last contra of the month.  Local caller Bob Duffy calls.

Gypsy Moon Ball 2015 will be Friday – Sunday, October 23 – 25 at Zion Evangelical United Church of Christ in downtown Indianapolis.

Music by& Gallimaufry &  Turnip the Beet,  calling by Susan Kevra & Maggie Jo Saylor. Here’s Turnip the Beet with Susan Kevra:

httpv://youtu.be/OBu0X5bzQi0
Approximate schedule: contra 8 – midnight Friday, 10 am to midnight Saturday (with dinner & lunch breaks), and waltz then contra 10 – 3 Sunday. All welcome, pre-registration not required, not gender balanced. More details tba.

Music by The Mean Lids, calling by Darlene Underwood, join us Sunday, March 22, 2015, 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM.

We’ll be at our regular location, Grove Haus, 1001 Hosbrook Street, Indianapolis, IN 46203, United States, Earth.
httpv://youtu.be/Fk_uEyEIgFs

Here’s a summary of our February dance plans. It’s also time for us to hold elections for board members, so if you’re interested in helping with contra, please volunteer!

February 3, Deb Shebish and Johnandrew Bellner are back in Indiana! These married musicians bring energetic old time and Irish dance music. Between the two of them, they have played with pretty much all the folk musicians in town – come out and dance to them and you’ll see why! Rhonda K. Minnich, who’s also responsible for many of the great recent photographs on our website & facebook, will call.

Indy Contra has a Sunday afternoon dance scheduled for January 18, 2 – 5 p.m.  with music by Turnip the Beet, and calling by Bradley Smith..

httpv://youtu.be/YJ3mPo6a9xA

Our Tuesday night dances this month:

January 6, start the year dancing, with Ken Gall calling to Convolution.

January 13, Ryan Smith calls to Tom Cunningham & Ben Andrew.

January 20, we feature Bloomington talent: the Lion’s Head Dance Band (Eric Schedler, Ben Smith, and Sam Bartlett) and Steven Janowiecki calling.

January 27, Rachel McCandliss, visiting from Atlanta, GA, calls to Troika.

In case of bad weather, please check us on twitter https://twitter.com/IndyContra  which is likeliest to be updated fastest.

January 31 is a 5th Saturday, so Bloomington, IN has a contra just an hour south-ish of us. That weekend Louisville, KY has events Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, in conjunction with a CDSS board meeting.