Welcome to the Syracuse Country Dancers' home page. As well as visiting us here, we hope you will come visit us at one of our contradances! Every dance has live music and a caller who teaches each dance sequence. It's fine to come with or without a partner. If you're an old hand, you know how much fun contradancing can be. New dancers are also always welcome at our dances. We encourage new dancers to come at the beginning of the dance (to get the most out of the teaching), and to be prepared to smile a lot. If you're new to this, we invite you to check out our brief description of contradancing.

We dance almost every weekend. However, our schedule is not a simple one and sometimes there are exceptions to our scheduling formulas, so it's always worth checking before traveling. Our usual schedule is to have an English Country dance on Saturday of the third weekend of every month, and contra dances on the other weekends. Second and fourth weekends we hold Friday evening dances. On the first weekend of the month we have a Saturday evening contra. If the month has a fifth weekend, we will still have a dance, usually on Saturday, but you should check our schedule because it might be on Friday instead. See? We told you it wasn't simple! For more detail, see our schedule page. Or sign up for our email newsletter or weekly reminders list to receive regular updates about our schedule via email.

Unless otherwise noted on the schedule, our dances run from 8 to 11 p.m., and are held at the United Church of Fayetteville. (There are about half a dozen dances per year that we move to alternate locations.) Admission to our regular dances is $7 ($5 for people with limited income, $20 maximum per family). Contact David if you are interested in bringing a group at a reduced rate. We offer a discount for groups of 10 dancers or more. Admission is higher for occasional special dance events, such as our Cream of the Crop series and our annual weekend of dance, the Phylla Mae Fall Fest -- pronounced, "Fill-a May."

What should you wear to a contra dance? Go for comfortable, informal clothes. It's best to avoid colognes and perfumes. And, to help us protect the wood floors, please bring soft-soled grit-free shoes. (Flip flops and high heels should be avoided.) Don't feel you need to purchase special dance shoes; sneakers work fine and there is a brush at the dance to clean your street shoes if necessary.

This site can also lead you to information about contradances throughout Central New York, schedules of our local callers (Keith Hunt, Bob Nicholson, David Smukler, and Sarah VanNorstrand), and links to other dance pages.