Someone asked me which contra dance bands and callers played the most
major gigs in 2025, which reminded me that I hadn't put out my annual
post yet! Here's what I have, drawing from the big
spreadsheet that backs
TryContra Events.
In 2025 we were up to 142 events, which is an increase of 9% from 2024
(131), and above pre-pandemic numbers. New events included Chain
Reaction (Maine dance weekend), Galhala (women's dance
weekend), and On to the
Next (one-day queer-normative dance event). Additionally, a few
events returned for the first time since the pandemic (ex: Lava Meltdown).
For bands, River Road and
Countercurrent continue
to be very popular, with the Dam
Beavers edging out Playing with
Fyre for third. For callers it's Will Mentor, Alex Deis-Lauby,
and Lisa Greenleaf, which is the first time a Millenial has made it
into the top two. This is also a larger trend: in 2024 there was only
one Millennial (still Alex) in the top ten and in 2023 there were
zero; in 2025 there were three (Michael Karcher and Lindsey Dono in
addition to Alex). While bands don't have generations the same way
individuals do, bands definitely skew younger: in something like seven
of the top ten bands the median member is Millennial or younger.
When listing bands and callers, my goal is to count ones with at least
two big bookings, operationalized as events with at least 9hr of
contra dancing. Ties are broken randomly (no longer alphabetically!)
Let me know if I've missed anything?
Someone asked me which contra dance bands and callers played the most major gigs in 2025, which reminded me that I hadn't put out my annual post yet! Here's what I have, drawing from the big spreadsheet that backs TryContra Events.
In 2025 we were up to 142 events, which is an increase of 9% from 2024 (131), and above pre-pandemic numbers. New events included Chain Reaction (Maine dance weekend), Galhala (women's dance weekend), and On to the Next (one-day queer-normative dance event). Additionally, a few events returned for the first time since the pandemic (ex: Lava Meltdown).
For bands, River Road and Countercurrent continue to be very popular, with the Dam Beavers edging out Playing with Fyre for third. For callers it's Will Mentor, Alex Deis-Lauby, and Lisa Greenleaf, which is the first time a Millenial has made it into the top two. This is also a larger trend: in 2024 there was only one Millennial (still Alex) in the top ten and in 2023 there were zero; in 2025 there were three (Michael Karcher and Lindsey Dono in addition to Alex). While bands don't have generations the same way individuals do, bands definitely skew younger: in something like seven of the top ten bands the median member is Millennial or younger.
When listing bands and callers, my goal is to count ones with at least two big bookings, operationalized as events with at least 9hr of contra dancing. Ties are broken randomly (no longer alphabetically!) Let me know if I've missed anything?
Bands
Callers