CONTRAS AND SQUARES
© 1997 Doug Plummer
Newly Updated April 2001
Turning, moving, spinning, dresses swirling, music beating, eyes in contact with a partner, then another, then another, then another, and the fiddle turns a corner, the phrase repeats, the dance repeats. You smile. Your body smiles. Everywhere.
Since my first contra dance in 1987 I’ve marveled at the intensity and joyousness it brings forth in me and how I can feel connected with so many others in the same state. It’s ecstatic spiritual practice masquarading as recreation. It’s also aerobic, flirtatious, and social. My wife tells me I “do bliss” when she sees me on the dance floor. I drink from that well when I dance.
I’ve worked to capture that sensation of group bliss in my dance photographs stretching back to my first dance camp in 1988. At Camp Wannadance on the Olympic Peninsula I hung a camera from the ceiling of the hall, and triggered it with a radio remote. I experimented and found the right combination of ambient and flash exposures that created a sense of motion and rhythm. At the Northwest Folklife Festival I’ve shot nearly every year in the huge dance hall where many people get their first taste of the experience.
Prints are available for sale. Unmounted Epson inkjet prints are $35 for 8x10, $55 for 11x14. I do not take credit cards, but I do take Paypal, or a check.
Regarding capture of these images for your own personal use, or to post on other sites: please ask me first. Photography is my profession, and copyright is the only way I have to protect my livelihood. Please contact me for permission to copy or use. Be considerate.
MORE OF MY DANCE PHOTOS:
Irish Set Dancing
NW Folklife
Vancouver Folk Festival
HOME PAGE
THE EXHIBIT
Camp Wannadance, Ft. Flagler, Washington 1988
New Year's Eve Dance at the Karamozov's Barn, Pt. Townsend, WA 1989
New Year's Eve Dance at the Karamozov's Barn, Pt. Townsend, WA 1989
Northwest Folklife Festival, 1990
Northwest Folklife Festival 1990
Star, overhead view, Camp Wannadance 1988
Star, Camp Wannadance 1989
In the star, Camp Wannadance 1990
Camp Wannadance 1992
Portland Spring Dance Festival 1990
Northwest Folklife Festival 1995
Dancing at Fiddletunes, 1991
Dance line at Northwest Folklife Festival 1994
Laura Me, Northwest Folklife Festival 1994
Circle, Northwest Folklife Festival 1994
Northwest Folklife Festival 1994
Squares, Northwest Folklife Festival 1994
Kids at Cajun dance, Folklife Festival 1995
Northwest Folklife Festival 1994
Last Night at the New Melody, Seattle 1993
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