The Triangle area has a thriving contra dance scene. There are about five dances a month. There’s a caller who calls out the figures for each dance. There’s live music – it’s mostly Celtic, but around here there’s also old time music, and some bands have more of a jazz or swing orientation.

And then there are the dancers – the 200 or so people, with big smiles on their faces as they allemande, swing, or do a Hey-for-four. It’s easy, it’s fun, and over time it’s become a community.

About two years ago, in the spring of 2008, under the leadership of Marilyn Hartman, a group of dancers first came together as a Support Team to help a dancer who was having knee surgery. For six weeks a team of over 20 people helped out in a variety of ways - staying with her in the hospital, driving her to doctor and physical therapy appointments, bringing meals, visiting, and taking her out to have some fun. When the team was no longer needed, they celebrated her recovery with a potluck supper, and after eating sat around the table like family, just talking. Now the Friend is dancing again!

Since then there have been teams for other dancers (or their friends) – mostly people who have had surgery, although there is also one team for a Friend with cancer. There have been 8 teams altogether and over 100 people have volunteered. A number of dancers have served as Team Leaders, and four dancers have attended or are about to attend a Leadership Training Conference at Project Compassion, with the financial support of other dancers. The contra dance Support Teams have taken on a life of their own and it’s been wonderful to see so many people willing to be involved and help out. It speaks volumes to Project Compassion’s philosophy of encouraging volunteers to do only what they love to do and only when they are able.

One lesson the contra dancers have learned is that different teams need different degrees of structure. When the support is needed for a month or less, they get organized and communicate via email. They set up a spreadsheet calendar where team members can sign up for specific tasks at specific times. When the support is needed for a longer period of time, and especially when the course of an illness is unknown, they start with an orientation for the team and then hold regular, 59-minute meetings. Next on the agenda: They hope to set up a quick response system so they can create Support Teams quickly when something unexpected happens and help is needed immediately.

All of the Friends have been pleased and grateful for the teams. From one Friend: “Please accept my deepest, heartfelt thanks to each and every one who helped out. The words I write here come no where near having the ability to express my gratitude for the love and caring I received. Your thoughts and actions proved a colossal assist to me during this medically challenged journey.” And from another Friend: “I thank you deeply for all you've done to help [my family] out through this time. Your kind spirit and organization have made it infinitely easier for us to manage a time that we had originally greeted with a lot of apprehension. Now that has changed to openness and gentle pacing. I'm very thankful for the way [my husband’s] recovery has gone so far; I'm sure that the love and care of friends has made a big difference there, too.”