What really struck me most was the dance composition, though. There were two squares and I think four proper dances. There were at least four dances with no neighbor swing, two of which had no swings at all. English-feeling figures seemed to be considered the more basic sort; in the second dance -- which was done like a teaching dance -- there were figure-eights, hand casts, and waist casts. Soon after was a dance with contra corners. And people were more comfortable with the contra corners than more modernish things like `box the gnat'. People also did not do swing-style twirls (such as the one going into a swing or after a circle left) or expect them. I guess that the classification `modern urban contra' for dances like the Springstep/VFW isn't that far off.

Addendum 7/21: They also took ladies chain to be by default all the way over and all the way back, with the definition I'm used to being called a 'half ladies chain'. They also once called half a hey for four which while I reasonable call is never once I'd heard before. Half a hey is faster and contra has not had heys for three for so long that there's no confusion. I do wonder what would happen if the caller called "first man, both women, hey for three". Probably confusion, too much to even be solved with a walk through. And unhappiness on the part of the left out man.