by Catherine Frank

In his play "Master Harold . . . and the Boys," set in South Africa during the time of apartheid, Athol Fugard uses the metaphor of the dance to suggest the possibility of "getting things right, the way we want life to be." The two black South Africans in the play prepare for a dance contest as a way of living, if only for a moment, "in a dream about a world in which accidents don't happen," "a world without collisions."

Art can indeed function as a way we try to "get things right," an opportunity to put our best selves forward. The most challenging art does not ignore frailties or missteps, the "collisions" that are a part of reality, but gives us a framework for understanding them and allows us to confront our bumps and bruises so that we are moved to change ourselves and empathize with others.

Even in bad economic times, even under apartheid, even as we live in a world at war, even as we sit in our homes in the dark, art matters.

In the early morning of Dec. 5, many of us experienced the collision of man and nature in a way we rarely do in the 21st century. We awoke to the sounds of tree limbs snapping and the vision of electrical transformers exploding in flashes of blue-white light. Our ordinary lives were suspended as we had to improvise ways to stay warm and fed.

While many of us can carry on the dances of our lives in isolation when all our systems are functioning, during "Fran on Ice" we looked for new partners. We pooled with neighbors to clear our roads and driveways. We banded together to make "stone soup" with the leftover turkey and potatoes or feasted together on the frozen food that was thawing in our freezers.

As the time without power grew, some of us began to collide, to look for people to blame, to complain about our losses. But others were able to use the storm as a way to empathize with those (both in our own community and around the world) who live without basic necessities 365 days a year.

The storm forced us to find new steps to pattern our lives; many of us found that we can indeed waltz through adversity. We may not have thought we were creating art, but we were learning about ourselves and one another and finding ways to get things right.

Of course, sometimes you cannot make a fox trot out of a collision. The Preservation Society of Chapel Hill, one of the sponsoring organizations of the Cultural Arts Group, had choreographed a house tour featuring new and old homes in the Franklin-Rosemary historic district. Nine homeowners had spent months readying their properties and planning to welcome the community; volunteers had become partners in the effort to celebrate the season and raise money for preservation projects.

With halls decked and carolers warmed up, tour organizers had to face the disappointing realization that, with tree limbs down and with people facing sub-freezing nights without heat or light, a celebratory dance to the spirit and beauty of our community was not a safe prospect.

Everyone involved has responded as champions. Our disappointment has given us the wonderful understanding that the secret is not to live life without collisions but to make a graceful recovery. The Preservation Society hopes, some time after the first of the year, to set a new date for a house tour and to dance into spring with a reminder of the way that our community blends the best of the past and the present and the way that our homes and buildings reflect our diversity.

While we have faced the postponement of one opportunity to display our community's beauty, on Feb. 9 residents will be able to enjoy the sixth annual Community Dinner. Citizens from throughout Orange County will have the chance to share great food provided by area businesses (with the "main course" coming from our local celebrity Mildred Council, founder of Mama Dip's Kitchen), churches and civic groups. Participants will hear and watch talented performers celebrating the traditions of diverse cultures that, for the 250 years of Orange County's history, have come together to create our unique and vibrant community.

The organizers of the dinner urge participants to "sit down with a stranger, come away with a friend." At the dinner, we have another opportunity to live in a world without collisions, to dance together in celebration of our different and shared beliefs. But the celebration is best when it lasts for more than a day.

As one of the characters in Fugard's play says, we have to work to "get it right. . . . Learn to dance life like champions instead of

always being just a bunch of beginners at it." The dinner is an opportunity to find new partners and learn new steps. We should not ignore the fact that we inevitably step on one another's toes, but must seize the chance to find ways to recover and continue to dance.

The Cultural Arts Group works throughout the year to support and encourage artists and the arts in our community. They organize the community dinner every year to remind us that we have much to celebrate and much in common. We often feel that we are living in a world where, as Fugard's character notes, "None of us knows the steps and there's no music playing." As we celebrate the holiday season, take advantage of one of the many arts activities in our community where we can appreciate the ability of our community to get things right, when the music and the steps are in harmony.

Mark your calendar for the Community Dinner. And you might also want to note that if we collide with nature again, there is a snow date of Feb. 16.