2015 Creative Cups

Lisa Bohannon

Dance Like There’s No One Watching

My design was inspired by the women I have had the amazing fortune to meet through the growth of SunDancers Community Belly Dance. I was invited several years ago to offer a class for a group of women in treatment and recovery at the Charles R. Wood Cancer Center at Glens Falls Hospital. We focused on using this non-traditional exercise as a means to “look good–feel better” at a time when many of the women were unable to resume the level or type of activity they enjoyed prior to treatment. In the years since that first class, we have repeated it successfully at Cindy’s Retreat, hosted by the C.R. Wood Cancer Center at beautiful Silver Bay on Lake George; danced with women at Camp Bravehearts at Double H Hole in the Woods in Lake Luzerne, NY; performed at local American Cancer Society Relay for Life and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer events; and have met and heard the stories of so many wonderful women who later joined SunDancers on a regular basis.

In listening to the comments and conversations of my students, I believe our group has also become as much about developing a positive body image and healthy mental attitude as exercise. Our survivors have taught me more than I can ever hope to teach them about the importance of dancing like no one’s watching.