contra-dance

On the other hand, these ladies are dying for the young Baron Albert, who dances the contra-dance with a mien of languishing resignation worthy of a funeral.

The International Magazine, Volume 2, No. 3, February, 1851 Various

We hear of the gentlemen and dames going to "routs" in their sedan chairs, much as they did in the old country: arriving at eight -- they kept better hours than our modern fashionable people -- they would dance the staid and stately minuet and the gayer contra-dance, to the music mainly of fiddles, till midnight, and then separate, horrified at the lateness of the hour.

The Nation in a Nutshell George Makepeace Towle

Drusy's face, which was rosy and smiling as she stood watching the movements of a contra-dance, suddenly blanched, and she grasped a wooden pillar as if for support.

Lippincott's Magazine, November 1885 Various

More than fifty couples stood up for a contra-dance, and tore down the middle and up outside, and cast off, as if they were all just out of a lunatic hospital.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 106, August, 1866 Various

I talked with the President till a party of young girls, who seemed to regard him with idolatry, and whom, in return, he treated with a sage mixture of gallantry and fatherliness, came to him with an invitation to join in some old-fashioned contra-dance long forgotten at the East.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 78, April, 1864 Various

Small children, five or six years old, representing the seven sacraments, and holding the seven ribbons that hung from the cross, performed with great skill a species of contra-dance.

May 4th. Part I.—Letters from My Nephew 1917

While he spoke Raymon held Madame Delmare's hand, to be prepared to walk through their figure in the contra-dance.

Indiana 1900

An hour or two earlier she had given him her hand in the contra-dance at the state ball.

The Valley of Decision Edith Wharton 1899

And, very gracefully, he sketched a step or two in contra-dance to his own shadow on the grass.

The Firing Line 1899

And whereas I have heard dancing condemned as unmanly, and fit only for women and young boys, I must still take the other hand, and think there is no finer sight than a well-proportioned man, with a sense of his powers, and a desire to do justice to them, moving through the figures of a contra-dance.

Rosin the Beau Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards 1896