From what Leena said in the OP, particularly the tune names, I assumed she was talking about the same thing I was - in Cleveland, Ohio, the genre we call English Country Dance. In the 30+ years I've been a dancer, then later a dance musician, the tunes came out of Peter Barnes's book and originally, the dance & tune went by the same name, using a very historic repertoire.

Came a burst of creativity, new dances being written, set to old or new tunes, and in Barnes book 2, there was the start of THIS tune for THAT dance in the titles, and with Brooke Friendly, Joseph Pimentel, and in my case, local Steve Otlowski, we were inundated with lots of NIB (Not in Barnes) tunes only recently wed to new dances (and when they wed, they do NOT assume the same name!) So where years ago, we might have been able to play Lilliburlero, Jamaica, Duke of Kent, and many others by memory, now in an evening of 12 dances, 2-6 of them may be entirely new dances with new tunes, which take a bit of rehearsal. Particularly when premiering a dance for the first time with live dancers, you can't just noodle your way through the tune, you must be able to give some structure on it's virgin run.

Treewind's description of Ceilidh and Social dance preparation translate very well to Contra & English Country dance for me. I also play in a contra dance band, where the band picks the music at the rehearsal before the next dance, and we work from that, changing order if a reel or a jig is needed for a particular dance. As an open band, many are just learning the music, so we play from dots. We all do this for fun, not for the minimal money, and there is enjoyment in the challenge of the new - we just want to make appropriate preparations, so that the dancers enjoy it too.

Joanne in Cleveland
PS. just for the heckofit, here's what I have on my plate for our "Travelog" dance Friday:

Trip to Amsterdam - Tune: The Last New Vagaries
Trip to Provence (will get music asap) (author is emailing it)
Trip to Spain - Tune - Donastia
Trip to Cincinnati - Leptaena Waltz
Trip to Woodstock - Tune: Ding Dong Merrily On High
Trip to Tintagel - Tune: The King's Reel (the debated tune described in my first post)

and Blessedly, the familiar out of Barnes:
Trip to to Jamaica - Tune: Jamaica
Trip to Greene
Trip to the Manors
Trip to Kilburn
Trip to Paris
Trip to Virginia
6 of these dances never done before in Cleveland. fun fun fun!