Western Reserve Contra Dance event Saturday evening

CANFIELD — The Western Reserve Contra Dance will have its second dance session at the Dublin Grange Theatre Co., 6571 Fairground Blvd., from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday.

Contra dance is a highly energetic and aerobic style of folk dance popular in 17th century colonial America and Great Britain.

Laura Tellman of Liberty started the event after witnessing contra dance at the Civil War Ball hosted by the Mahoning Valley Historical Society in 2014.

Tellman found help from the acoustic-string folk band One String Short that plays at the dance and its lead Dennis Kempthorne, who helped organize the event, which takes place every second week of the month.

“Everything is taught. There are no uniforms or clubs or anything like that,” Kempthorne said. “It’s a really loosely knit type of group and we line everybody up and there we go.”

Guests of all ages and skill levels are welcome. Each ticket costs $8 per person, and participants can wear casual attire as long as guests have rubber-soled shoes. The event will provide light snacks and refreshments and visit westernreservecontradance.com for information.