Festival Stats 2025
Published on January 6, 2026 1:40 AM GMT
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
spreadsheet that backs
https://www.trycontra.com/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), https://www.shedances.org/galhalla
(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: https://www.lavameltdown.com/
).
For bands, https://www.riverroadtrad.com/
and
https://countercurrentmusic.com/
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
River Road
13
Countercurrent
11
The Dam Beavers
10
Playing with Fyre
8
Toss the Possum
7
Kingfisher
6
The Engine Room
6
The Stringrays
5
Supertrad
5
Stomp Rocket
5
Wild Asparagus
5
Topspin
4
The Free Raisins
4
Northwoods
4
Stove Dragon
4
The Mean Lids
3
Red Case Band
3
Spintuition
3
Turnip the Beet
3
Hot Coffee Breakdown
3
Thunderwing
3
Raven & Goose
3
Good Company
3
Joyride
3
The Gaslight Tinkers
3
Chimney Swift
2
The Moving Violations
2
The Syncopaths
2
The Latter Day Lizards
2
Lighthouse
2
Root System
2
Contraforce
2
Sugar River Band
2
The Berea Castoffs
2
The Fiddle Hellions
2
Lift Ticket
2
The Buzz Band
2
The Faux Paws
2
Nova
2
Callers
Will Mentor
17
Alex Deis-Lauby
14
Lisa Greenleaf
14
Gaye Fifer
13
Michael Karcher
11
Lindsey Dono
10
Seth Tepfer
10
Steve Zakon-Anderson
8
Bob Isaacs
7
Darlene Underwood
7
Terry Doyle
6
Adina Gordon
6
George Marshall
5
Sue Rosen
5
Cis Hinkle
5
Mary Wesley
5
Rick Mohr
5
Koren Wake
4
Wendy Graham
4
Jeremy Korr
4
Luke Donforth
4
Susan Petrick
4
Dereck Kalish
3
Warren Doyle
3
Angela DeCarlis
3
Jacqui Grennan
3
Maia McCormick
3
Emily Rush
3
Lyss Adkins
3
Janine Smith
3
Devin Pohly
3
Claire Takemori
3
Qwill Duvall
2
Frannie Marr
2
Bev Bernbaum
2
Janet Shepherd
2
Diane Silver
2
Chris Bischoff
2
Ben Sachs-Hamilton
2
Timothy Klein
2
Kenny Greer
2
Isaac Banner
2
Susan Kevra
2
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/EoTXw59w9paPxNwxM/festival-stats-2025#comments
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/EoTXw59w9paPxNwxM/festival-stats-2025