Friends! This summer and fall, Brooklyn Contra is partnering to put on some concerts at the NYC Catholic Worker on the Lower East Side. We’ll be putting on a benefit concert on August 21st, a concert and sing with Emma Azelborn and Paper Plane on September 25th, and more!

But first we have to get the hall looking beautiful, so we’re hosting a work day at this early 19th-century music hall to get it spiffed up!

Brooklyn Contra is pleased to sponser an Irish Jam at Rullo’s Bar in South Slope, Brooklyn. Join jam leader Arwen van Stigt for a jam for Irish players at any level. Arwen and friends will lead a variety of tunes, from advanced to beginer, just play what you know!

Been loving contra as a new dancer but want to take your dancing to the next level? Been dancing for years but want a stronger foundation? Want time to learn or practice some flourishes outside of a dance?

Join Brooklyn Contra and Alyssa Adkins at our first Intermediate Contra workshop! We’ll look at less common, intermediate contra moves and break them down, learn flourishes and fun places to put them, and go over techniques to make partnered dancing feel smooth, attentive, and effortlessly connected.

Join us for a second bite at the Big Apple Contra Band’s amazing tunes, with a cinnamon sugar dip of calling from Carl Levine! This four-slice ensemble is led by Brendan Hearn and his juicy cello and guitar, alongside the crisp twin fiddles of Cleek Shrey and Liz Hanley, with a jazz rhythm core of Dylan McKinstry on drums!

Friends! Fancy a waltz in the park? Or a summer afternoon spritz? Or just a slice of watermelon among friends? Then join us for Brooklyn Contra's summer members' picnic!

We'll provide appetizers, watermelon, spritzes, lawn games, and more; you bring yourself (and anything else you like!) for an afternoon in the Peristyle at the south end of Prospect Park.

Join us for a summer evenings dance in our air conditioned hall! We’ll have live music for a special edition of Some Assembly Required, this week lead by Arwen van Stigt’s fiddle, with mandolin picking from Benjamin Graubart, rhythmic from Alex Richey on piano and Nicholas Fitzgerald on accordion. Together, they'll bring joyus, dynamic, interpretations of traditional Appalachian and Irish tunes to help you whirl away the night.Plus the NYC calling debut of Andrew Stout!

Lesson at 7:30

Dancing at 8pm

Join us for a lovely summer evening of dancing! We’ll have live music from Cozy Socks and calling from local favorite Carter North!

Lesson at 7:30

Dancing at 8pm

Join us for a Family Dance at New York Historical to celebrate America 250 and the birthday of the United States.

This program is appropriate for all ages and museum admission will be free on that day!

An evening of songs and storytelling with cellist and singer Ben Sollee. Infused with R&B and folk, this Kentucky-based artist’s soulful songs will have you groovin’ through the night.

Join us for a Family Dance at New York Historical, in celebration of the opening of their new wing!

This program is appropriate for all ages and included in museum admission.

The stunning new Tang Wing for American Democracy will serve as home for The New York Historical's Academy for American Democracy and Dorothy Tapper Goldman Center for Teaching Democracy. The top floor of the new wing will be home to the first-ever American LGBTQ+ Museum, telling the story of the long struggle for full American citizenship for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

We’re turning it up for our first Summer Saturday dance with a five piece Big Apple Contra Band bringing a big slice of NYC’s best to the Brooklyn Contra stage, with a caramel coating of calling from Carl Levine! This big five piece ensemble is lead by Brendan Hearn and his juicy cello and guitar alongside the crisp twin fiddles of Cleek Shrey and Meghan Mette all wrapped around a jazz rhythm core of Aiden Scrimgeour on piano and accordion Jerome Morris on drums.

Lesson at 7:30

Dancing at 8pm

Join Brooklyn Contra as we dance in the year as part of Solstice in the Park! Solstice in the Park is a free, volunteer-spun celebration of midsummer magic, where song drifts through the trees, dancers twirl like sunlight on water, and pageantry blooms wild and bright. Together, we’ll greet the turning of the stars, kindle an age-old spirit of merry revelry, and weave a little more community into the world.

Gather by 5pm at Prospect Park's Willink Plaza entrance (Flatbush Ave at Empire Blvd). Dancing at Concert Grove around 6:00 PM.

It’s that time of year! We cross the Buttermilk Channel to dance on Governors Island at the city’s largest folk festival, Porch Stomp!

We will be at the Flatfoot Flatbush stage from 1-2pm. Be sure to check out the many amazing musicians and stages throughout the island!

Brooklyn Contra is pleased to sponser an Irish Jam at Rullo’s Bar in South Slope, Brooklyn. Join jam leader Arwen van Stigt for a jam for Irish players at any level. Arwen and friends will lead a variety of tunes, from advanced to beginer, just play what you know!

Friends! We’re celebrating Pride Month with a techno contra at the West Village LGBT Center! We’ll have DJ’d beats from DJ Chloe Rosenthal! Plus a very glittery face-paint station!

5:30pm: Doors, Face Painting, Happy Hour (Dry)

6:00pm: Dancing!

Been loving contra as a new dancer but want to take your dancing to the next level? Been dancing for years but want a stronger foundation? Want time to learn or practice some flourishes outside of a dance?

Join Brooklyn Contra and Alyssa Adkins at our first Intermediate Contra workshop! We’ll look at less common, intermediate contra moves and break them down, learn flourishes and fun places to put them, and go over techniques to make partnered dancing feel smooth, attentive, and effortlessly connected.

See you for a contra dance for all with the rocking twin fiddles and driving piano rhythms of Cozy Socks plus calling from Carter North!

Lesson for new dancers at 4:30pm

Dancing at 5:00pm

Brooklyn Contra is pleased to sponser an Irish Jam at Rullo’s Bar in South Slope, Brooklyn. Join jam leader Arwen van Stigt for a jam for Irish players at any level. Arwen and friends will lead a variety of tunes, from advanced to beginer, just play what you know!

Join us for our annual May Day Dance! We’ll have live tunes from the famous The Gaslight Tinkers', who’s blend of global rhythms with New England contra tunes lights up the dance floor! Plus our traditional Maypole, and calling from the incomparable Maia McCormick.

Forsyth (Kate Knudsvig, Kat Wallace, Erin Hogan and Helen Kuhar) is a new Boston collective of musicians , where each member’s voice adds an equal thread to the group’s tapestry. With four voices as their canvas, they combine their individual talents into a shared interpretation, bringing fresh energy to the timeless melodies of the Celtic tradition. Inspired by the haunting soundscapes of Lankum and Ye Vagabonds, Forsyth invites listeners to explore the vibrant tapestry of every song and story.

Join us for the dynamic dance engine of Missing Lynx featuring the fiddle, viola, mandolin and more of Oliver Scanlon (Pete’s Posse, Stove Dragon) alongside Alex Louis Fortier’s piano and synthesizer, plus calling from Carl Levine!

Lesson at 4:30, dancing at 5!

Join us for our annual Members and Volunteers appreciation party! We'll have drinks, some light food, and excellent company. We'll spend a few minutes talking through our BKC goals for 2025 and you can ask questions or bend our ears on whatever you like!  It's a lovely chance to hang around outside of the dance and we hope you'll join us.

Brooklyn Contra is pleased to sponser an Irish Jam at Rullo’s Bar in South Slope, Brooklyn. Join jam leader Arwen van Stigt for a jam for Irish players at any level. Arwen and friends will lead a variety of tunes, from advanced to beginer, just play what you know!

Join us for a dance with Kaleidoscope’s whirling tunes and the dazzling calling of Qwill Duvall!

Lesson at 4:30.

Join us at NYU for the BFA Thesis project of Cecilia Crowe….Quilts inspired in part by contra dance! And of course for dancing! We’ll have music from Brendan Hearn and Co. and calling from Carl Levine. All dances taught, no experience necessary!

Free!

Dancing from 6:00pm to 7:00pm

Friends! Join us for an amazing evening of Contra and Irish Ceili dancing with live music from Scottish influenced duo Ravenswing. We’ll have Irish teaching and calling from the team at the Brooklyn Irish Dance Company (who runs NYC’s popular Gayli series!) and Contra calling from Harris Lapiroff.

Contra lesson for new and newish dancers at 4:30 PM.

Brooklyn Contra is pleased to sponser an Irish Jam at Rullo’s Bar in South Slope, Brooklyn. Join jam leader Arwen van Stigt for a jam for Irish players at any level. Arwen and friends will lead a variety of tunes, from advanced to beginer, just play what you know!

Come dance to the driving tunes of Crossover featuring Alex Cumming (of the Red Case Band) and Ang DeCarlis during their East Coast tour!

Lesson at 4:30.

Come dance to Joy Factor, a new trio out of Massachusetts playing Celtic and Quebecois tunes for a rollicking good time with calling from Sunny Lawrence!

Lesson at 4:30, dancing at 5!

Back for their traditional post-Flurry tour, Kingfisher will once again grace the Brooklyn Contra stage with Alex Deis-Lauby. Kingfisher, the eclectic duo of Cecilia Vacanti and Jeff Kaufman, plays both traditional and modern contra dance music, and has been hailed as one of the most versatile up-and-coming dance bands on the road today.

Lesson at 4:30, Dancing at 5, Afters at 8!