(Photo by Stina Sieg)

Contra lovers, experienced and brand new, typically together twice a month in Phoenix. The next dances are Oct. 24 and 31.

Sit on the sidelines of a contra dance and first thing you’ll probably notice are the long lines of dancers. The second? The smiles – constant – and on almost everyone’s face.

“It’s just fun,” said Roni Burrows, smiling as the dance whirled on in front of her.

She fell in love with contra about 30 years ago. Tonight, she’s dancing with fellow contra veterans, but also beginning dancers. She, like other contra lovers, makes a point to send a welcoming vibe to newbies.

With other dance forms, the learning curve can be steep, “but people come in their first day of contra, they’re on the floor, they’re dancing,” she said. “They’re having a good time."

That’s because contra is meant to be something everyone can do. It’s been that way since it the 1700s when it began as a barn dance on the East Coast. In the centuries since, the formula has pretty much stayed the same, with elements borrowed from French and English dance styles: live music, a caller yelling out the steps, couples progressing up and down the dance hall. The steps have names like “allemande” and “promenade” and “ladies chain.” That might sound complicated, but Ron Nieman, who helped start the Phoenix dances 30 years ago, promises it’s not.

“It doesn’t require anything other than being able to walk and just be able to enjoy other people,” he said.

Nieman can’t walk anymore, but he is still an important part of this community. He manages the sound system for the bands and his wife dances. He thinks contra is social by nature.

“It’s sort of set up to force you to meet other people,” he said.

It’s a contra expectation that you’ll ask many different people to dance over the course of a night. And, Nieman said, during a 10-minute contra you don’t just dance with that one partner, but lots of other people. You meet new ones every time the music cycles.

“If you didn’t find a spark or find a friend or something, wait 30 seconds, you’ll get another chance,” he joked.

Roni Burrows loves that feeling of hooking into the pattern of contra. She describe it as “that happy place.”

“That joy of matching your movement, someone else’s movement – rhythm, music, your heart, your soul, all together,” she said. “Rhythm, music, your heart, your soul, all together.”

It also creates a sense of togetherness between the dancers, she said. When a member of the contra community recently died, so many dancers went to his funeral.

“So, not just the dancing,” Burrows said, “but people are concerned for each other and take care of each other and get involved in each other’s lives.”

And they come together every two weeks in Phoenix.

The next contra dance will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, with the band Clusterfolk. A special Halloween dance will be held the same time at The Mesa Active Adult Center. Dances typically happen the fourth Friday and second Saturday of each month. For more information, dates and times, visit  www.phxtmd.org.