This is part of WTOP’s continuing coverage of people making a difference from our community authored by Stephanie Gaines-Bryant. Read more of that coverage.
If you’ve ever tried line dancing, you know it can be lots of fun. A Prince George’s County, Maryland, group is using the fun activity to help breast cancer survivors stay healthy.
Jeannette Jones is a breast cancer survivor, line dance instructor and one of the coordinators of Line Dance N’ Pink. The event, organized by the breast cancer advocacy organization 2for2 Boobs, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary.
Jones said she was diagnosed with breast cancer after having two breast scares. She first discovered a lump on her breast in 1994.
“I was scared,” Jones said. “I knew it was there but didn’t do anything about it.”
She said it took years for her to get the lump checked and, when she did, it turned out to be a benign (noncancerous) tumor.
“Had it been cancerous, I would not be here to tell it,” Jones said.
After that incident, she said she became more knowledgeable about breast care and began doing regular self-exams with the encouragement of Tallulah Anderson, president and founder of 2for2 Boobs.
She found another lump in 2008 which was also benign before finding a third lump in the other breast a short time later. The latter was cancerous.
A year after getting her breast cancer diagnosis, Jones began line dancing. She said she immediately fell in love with it and soon became an instructor.
“It just frees you. It frees your mind up,” she said, adding that it helps, “to keep your mind active with the different steps.”
Jones also said the fellowship is therapeutic for breast cancer survivors because they’re “coming in contact with all types of people, developing friendships and associations.”
Now, as a breast cancer survivor, Jones said she knows firsthand how line dancing can help other survivors stay physically and mentally fit — when people begin dancing, she said, endorphins are released and they’re getting a cardio workout.
And if you have two left feet, Jones said there’s still hope to become a line dancer — she often tells new line dancers “Mess up? Catch up” and has had success helping people with absolutely no coordination become good line dancers.
But, she said, it’s so much more than dancing.
Tallulah Anderson, founder of 2for2 Boobs, said they’re asking people to wear silver and pink this year to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the event, telling WTOP it’s a “celebration of life” aimed at turning awareness into action “thru moving your body, thru hearing the stories and thru letting you know what you need to do to be proactive when it comes to breast care.”
The 10th annual Line Dance N’ Pink will be held on Sunday, Oct. 22 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Lake Arbor Community Center in Mitchellville, Maryland.
