Dance in Film · 2007
The Other Way Back (2007)
Archival and contemporary contra-dance footage follows caller and musician Dudley Laufman from the 1960s revival through festival stages, crowded community halls, and schoolrooms, showing how live calls turn longways sets into social momentum.
The Other Way Back is a 2007 dance documentary centred on Historic American Contra. For dancers, it's a chance to see the style performed on screen — the phrasing, partnering, and musicality that the same dances carry onto a real floor.
Jump to the 4 indexed dance sequences ↓
Dance styles featured
Where to watch: Free full stream on Folkstreams (verified 2026-08-12); official preview on YouTube.
The dance sequences in The Other Way Back
4 sequences — what is danced, by whom, and where to find it.
1965 Newport Folk Festival contra performance
Contra DanceDanced by Dudley Laufman; New England Contra-Dancers
Rows of dancers spilling into Newport’s hayfield under Laufman’s calls.
Historic festival footage turns contra’s social geometry into scale: Laufman’s concise prompts synchronize longways sets while the open crowd carries the movement beyond a formal stage. The scene captures the revival as participatory practice, not spectacle.
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Crowded “Dudley dances” and revival footage
Contra DanceDanced by Dudley Laufman; Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra; community dancers
Barefoot young dancers filling old New England halls from wall to wall.
Packed halls make contra’s repeating longways patterns feel communal rather than regimented. Laufman’s spare calls and live tunes leave room for eye contact, swinging momentum, and the feedback loop between dancers and band.
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National Folk Festival at Wolf Trap contra demonstration
Contra DanceDanced by Dudley Laufman; Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra; festival dancers
A festival stage becoming a hands-on contra workshop.
The demonstration makes performance inseparable from recruitment: Laufman’s calls clarify the form while the orchestra’s live pulse lets unfamiliar dancers enter quickly. Watching participation widen reveals how the revival traveled through embodied teaching.
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School and community dances with Dudley and Jacqueline
Contra DanceDanced by Dudley Laufman; Jacqueline Laufman; school and community dancers
A room of new dancers finding the pattern together to two live fiddles.
Children and community dancers show the form’s adaptive craft: simple calls, visible partnering, and live fiddling make structure legible without flattening its tradition. The sequence reframes transmission as a danced encounter between generations.
Open the film at this point · Stream or rental only — the timestamp is for when you have it playing.
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