More than 360,000 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, but when caught in its earliest stages, the five-year survival rate is 99%. Even with those positive numbers, a cancer diagnosis comes with many challenges.
Onco Ballet, a nonprofit organization in Orange County, is using ballet to meet the mental and physical needs of people in the cancer community.
“When I was going through my second diagnosis, I had gone back to the ballet bar and I saw how helpful ballet and dance movement was for me in my own personal expression. And I wondered, ‘Could I share ballet, what I know so well, with everybody else?'” explains Anna Wassman-Cox, the founder and executive director of Onco Ballet.
Having the ballet classes at the Hoag Health Center has the added benefit of changing the perception of the building itself. From a place where someone was treated for cancer, to a place where they learned ballet.
Wassman-Cox remembers her time there well.
“When I was going through treatment, I was just around the corner from this room and it’s nice to come here in a whole different way now where I know I’m bringing joy to the community, bringing joy to myself.”