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Dudley Laufman has been recognized as more responsible than any other person for preserving the rich New England traditional dance and music styles and songs and sparking a renewed interest in contra dancing. Contra dancing, in which women and men face each other in two lines, has movement routines of simple figures and repeated patterns, similar to square dancing. Partly because little experience is required and callers guide the dancers in the movements, contra dancing has gained worldwide popularity.

While in his late teens, Massachusetts native Dudley (b. 1930) began to attend weekly dances at his agricultural high school and enthusiastically learned the techniques of callers decades older than he. By his early college years, Dudley became a regular caller himself. Since 1965, Dudley has led the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra, which, in that same year played the Newport Folk Festival. In 1971, they were the first dance band to make an LP recording of the New England jigs and reels most often used for dancing. Although contra dancing has evolved in recent years to include more "modern" influences in both music and dance figures, Dudley, who learned his fiddle style from New Hampshire old timers Dick Richardson and Arthur Hanson, has remained committed to learning and preserving the traditional New England and French Canadian tunes and dances that are the foundations of contra dance.

Since 1986, under the name “Two Fiddles,” he and his partner Jacqueline, have made their living by calling and performing at weddings, dance camps, elder hostels, and in-school residencies. They have taught thousands of children how to do-si-do, alamande left, and promenade. Dudley is particularly known for his enthusiasm and energy to get everybody dancing, regardless of experience or skill. Dudley has also published "Here’s To Every Country Dancer: The Music of Dudley Laufman", a volume of his own dance tunes that includes accompanying notes and reflections about his songs and his life. In 2001, he was awarded the New Hampshire Governor’s Award in the Arts for Folk Heritage.
At the 2003 Great Lakes Folk Festival, the Laufmans are accompanied by Bob Hubbach (hammered dulcimer) and Laura Stein (keyboard).

http://www.laufman.org
http://www.centrum.org/workshops/fiddle/fidfaculty.html
http://www.juneau.com/aff/23rd.htm
http://www.izaak.unh.edu/nhltmd/laufman.htm#bio