When Fifth Reel performs in downtown Grand Junction, dancers twirl, stomp and move to similar steps and music that our founding fathers and mothers enjoyed 200 years ago. Smiles and laughter fill the Margery Ballroom, located at 523 ½ Main St., when the old-time music band performs for contra dances held during the autumn, winter and spring.

Classically-trained piano player Connie Michael and Ron Young co-founded Fifth Reel and the Grand Junction Traditional Dance Society 20 years ago after Michael performed for a contra dance in Albuquerque. She fell in love with the music — which has Irish, Scottish and English roots.

“It changed my life; I wanted to play that kind of music after that,” Michael says. And, she wanted to bring contra dancing to the Grand Valley.

It’s not necessary to come with a partner or have experience. Contra is a social dance where couples form and are encouraged to switch partners throughout the evening. Dancers make two long, parallel lines, with pairs facing each other. Each twosome progresses up and down the line, dancing with every other couple in the line.

Caller Ron Young teaches the first dance of the evening by walking dancers through the steps a couple of times. “Then we do it to the music — a slower tempo to start,” he says. Eventually, Young stops calling and it’s just the band with dancers following the music. Newbies can also come early for the half-hour beginner lesson that Young teaches before the dance officially starts.

Michael and Young co-founded Fifth Reel specifically to host and perform contra dances in the Grand Valley. When he’s not performing the role of caller, Young plays the bodhran, an Irish drum. Fifth Reel also includes two retired Grand Junction symphony musicians — clarinet player Mick Wilson and fiddler Norm Ashley. Michael plays keyboards.

“It’s a great way to interact with people of all ages in the community,” Young says. Colorado Mesa University students often attend, as well as dancers from around the region — New Castle, Cedaredge, Montrose, Delta and even Moab, Utah.

You never know who you might meet at a contra dance. More than one romance has blossomed on the dance floor since contra dances started happening in the Grand Valley.

Denae Nesbit, 28, had been attending contra dances for four and a half years when she met her future husband Carl at a dance two years ago. When they married a year later, they invited Fifth Reel to perform at the reception. “Most people at our wedding had never contra danced before; it made for a memorable wedding,” she says.

Catherine Eicher of Grand Junction has attended local contra dances regularly for the past 18 years. Growing up in a religion that prohibited dancing, she says she was persuaded by a friend to give contra dancing a try. “If I can understand the steps, anyone can,” she says. “I couldn’t believe how much fun it is. After a few times, you can relax and just do it. It’s a sort of meditation. The caller backs off. There’s a kind of magic that settles over the whole group.”

Many, like Eicher, who’s 75, come solo. “I’ve lost my shyness about asking people to dance,” she says. “I’m going there just to have fun, and I do. It’s one of my joys of living here in Grand Junction. I thank Connie over and over for founding it and keeping it going.”

Though the rowdier American contra dance remains Fifth Reel’s focus, the Grand Junction Traditional Dance Society has expanded to also include international folk and English country dances, where the emphasis is on “grace and elegance, and less on stomping and swinging,” Michael says. A waltz is also occasionally thrown into the mix. It’s all good exercise, she says.

English Country Dances sometimes spur people to make costumes — apparel typical of the era. After attending her first English country dance, Eicher decided to sew a dress and added gloves and a headpiece with flowers. A friend hired someone to make herself a dress, too. “We felt like we were acting,” Eicher said. “I discovered I liked acting.”

For the International Folk Dances — the next one is scheduled for December 14 — the band has learned songs from Israel, Croatia, Bulgaria, French Canada, Ireland, Bolivia and China. “We’re having so much fun with this,” Michael says. A world map is pinned to a wall in the ballroom, with pins marking countries whose music the band has performed. “We will keep adding to it,” Michael says.

While children younger than 10 would find most of the dances challenging, a family dance scheduled for January 6 at 5 p.m. is perfect for families with youngsters. Parents are encouraged to bring their younger children to these events.

Contra dancing is extremely popular in New England, where it originated in the United States, and is also common in the Pacific Northwest and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Eicher, who plays piano, has been asked to sit in with the band on occasion — although, these days, she declines. “I’d rather dance,” she says.

For a schedule of dances in 2020, visit fifthreelmusicanddance.com.

Originally published in the Winter 2020 issue of Spoke+Blossom

I’d Rather Dance: Old-Time Contra Dances Still Serenade Downtown Grand Junction