Interview with Ned Quist of Brown University Contra Dance and the band White Squall

David: What is your musical background? What bands or ensembles have you been apart of?

Ned: Well, I started playing guitar in high school, and I played in a rock band like almost everyone did at that time. I also played saxophone in my high school band. I taught myself guitar for the first five years before I received classical training while I was in college. Most of my training has been classical oriented, so I'm probably one of those people who wouldn't be considered authentic (laughs). I started playing this kind of music (folk) when I got here (Brown University) and joined Jeff Titon's Old Time String Band. He knew I played guitar and asked me to join. That's where I met a lot of other people who played at the Contra Dance dances. They asked me to try it so I did. I also met Andy Grover, a recent Brown Graduate (2001), who played fiddle, and we ended up playing gigs together at Contra Dance.

D: So is guitar your main instrument?

N: Well, also I play a lot of saxophone. I used to take sax lessons from an eighty year old nun who was one heck of a sax player. In college I took lessons with David Starobin the founder of Bridge Records. I also took lessons with Ray Chester who was at Peabody where I worked at the time.

D: So how did White Squall come about, and how did you guys get involved in Contra Dance?

N: It came about with me (guitar), my wife Alice (percussion), and Andy (fiddle). Alice were actually both dancers; we had been dancing at the Contra Dance since we had been dating. We met Andy at the dances through a member of the Old Time String Band.

D: So has Contra Dance always been with the Brown Community?

N: Contra Dance is a bit of a movement? You should see a movie called Paid To Eat Ice Cream which is about the history of Contra Dance which has been around for the longest. It goes back to English contra dancing, and it was very much a rural thing here in New England. It has spread all over the world now. I remember a while back when I was in England, I went to a country *edit* dance, and it was completely different from what we do here. It was much more stylized versus contra dance here in New England which is much more athletic and “flirtatious.” The English musicians also tended to use more sheet music in their performance than we do here.

D: I noticed that your wife used a lot of different instruments in the performance. Can you tell me about those?

N: I don't know if the instruments we use are considered authentic contra dance instruments or not. Around here you can utilize pretty much anything in performance. The frame drum she used is an Irish instrument called a Bodhran. It's pretty authentic for playing gigues and reels which is mostly what we play. We play gigues, reels, marches, and a few waltzes. Her Bodhran is actually made by a man in Cumberland, RI who makes the instruments and teaches lessons which is how she learned. You can see and hear the same music played at sessions down at Ri Ra.

D: What style of dances are typical here at the Contra Dance on campus? What is the Cajun Waltz in particular?

N: The Cajun waltz tends to be more shuffling. Depending on whose dancing, people who know the dance shuffle in a straight line and turn in corners rather than a circle like a more Viennese style waltz. They turn in right angles and make a square.

D: Who are the artists that the caller calls out before a dance? Are they the composer?

N: No, they are actually calling out the choreographer of the dance not who wrote the music. He names the choreographer and the name of the dance. The caller tells us what style of music he wants (reels, gigues, etc.) for the dance. Chris Ricciotti is an interesting caller because he actually dances while he calls and does so very successfully. Callers are very particular about naming the choreographer. Tony Parks is one of the well known choreographers in this area. Boston has one of the most well-run contra dances I've ever seen which is the Gay and Lesbian Contra Dance at Jamaica Plain. Many Boston contra dances often have a fund-raising approach where people actually sponsor dances.

D: So is there an umbrella organization over contra dance in New England?

N: Not particularly, but there is NEFFA (New England Folk Festival Association). NEFFA is coming up in April, and there will be tons of contra dancing as well as many of the bands like Wild Asparagus and Nightingale which are two famous bands in the area, but each individual dance throughout New England is its own association which does its own booking and organizing.

D: So do people come far for the Brown Contra Dance?

N: Yes, people come from all over, but it is mostly students. Brown of course is a “crunchy-granola” type of place, and there are a lot of contra dancers here. A lot of kids come with their parents for contra dancing and a lot of students here grew up contra dancing especially those from New England.

D: What is Contra Dancing for you? Is it a hobby? Is it a side gig?

N: Well, its definitely not a vocation or a job for me, but it's fun. It's not a lot of money, but you do it because you like it and you get enough money to pay your expenses for it (instrument costs, travel and what not). It's also good to hear people enjoy themselves and to have fun.