Megaband 2010

My folks visited me this weekend and helped me out with various projects around the house. But I think the real reason they came to Portland was to go Contra Dancing at the Megaband Dance. :)

Here is good description of Contra Dancing.

"A dancer and his or her partner dance a series of figures, or moves, with each other and with another couple for a short time. They then repeat the same figures with another couple, and so on. The figures are similar to those of old-time square dancing. The figures are combined in different ways for each different dance."

Imagine sharing this experience with 550 dancers. To add to the experience there is live music thanks to a band of 70 musicians. Put all of this together and you have the Megaband. During the course of the evening I danced with women from Seattle to Corvallis. The dancing was fun and invigorating, the music was a treat.

In 2005 Oregon Public Broadcasting's show Oregon Art Beat televised a story on the Megaband. It showed the band rehearsing and then ended with some shots of dancers twirling around at the dance. Only recently did I learn that I was one of the dancers filmed in that episode. You can find the link to that episode here.