Barn Dancing with T-Claw Crawford

T-Claw Crawford is a dance caller, musician, and community organizer. He grew up in Nashville, TN and played punk rock and jazz until he heard old-time string music. T-Claw has toured by bicycle across eight states and New Zealand with Fiddle Pie, and old-time variety show band. He is the “Johnny Appleseed” of square dancing, having instigated his enthusiastic brand of community music and dance get-togethers far and wide. T’s favorite foods are pie and biscuits, and he enjoys river sports, honky tonkin’, yard games, wildcrafting, and cribbage. He bops around Brasstown with his beloved wife and delightful daughters.

Contra dancing is a form of social American folk dancing similar to square dancing. The contra dance is also known as English country dance, New England folk dance, a barn dance, or Appalachian folk dance. In contra dancing, long lines of couples dance together, performing simple footwork patterns, walking steps, and twirls. Dancers perform to folk music played by a live band featuring mandolins, banjos, and accordions, while a caller calls out the pattern for everyone to follow. Dancers usually wear comfortable shoes and clothes, making contra dancing a casual, social dance form.