This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Dancers Against Cancer

On Your Toes Academy of Dance is hosting the first Dancers Against Cancer benefit in Illinois.

With dance becoming increasingly even more popular, we are lucky to have so many dance studios peppered throughout the area. On Your Toes Academy of Dance in Buffalo Grove is doing something really special with their own dancers, with other local dance companies as well as with the community as a whole.

Louise Taitz, artistic director at On Your Toes, will be the first ever Illinois dance company to host a fabulous benefit, Dancers Against Cancer (DAC).

Louise came across DAC at a competition and believed by hosting this event it was a way of giving back. She is doing this also as a means to honor Long Grove resident Frayda Nechamkin who passed away from cancer this past January. She says, “Eight years ago Frayda walked into my studio to sign her two girls up for dance and since then became such an important part of our dance studio. She was a huge help at every performance and never ever left a show until I was in my car just in case I needed help with something, I once even found her sweeping the stage! Frayda was a kind, giving, loving and vivacious woman who always put other people first.” 

Find out what's happening in Buffalo Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Frayda was a single mom and her illness became financially devastating to her family. Louise lovingly gave her daughters lifetime scholarships to the studio so that they could take as many classes as possible without ever having to worry about payment. What Louise didn’t foresee was the many classes ultimately led to other expenses such as costumes, shoes and competitions. She says, “I then reached out to my dance community and was truly overwhelmed how these various organizations from as far away as New York, reached out to help these children so that they could have the opportunity to dance and compete.” 

Jody Isenhour, a breast cancer survivor from Iowa, is the founder of DAC, and will be at the benefit to emcee this event. Many local youth and adult dance companies will be performing such as Inaside, Design Dance, Boom Crash, Dmitri Peskov, Northwest Ballet, Stevenson Dance Companies and Zero Gravity and On Your Toes Dance Company.

Find out what's happening in Buffalo Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The event is at Stevenson High School on June 14th and tickets are available at On Your Toes Academy of Dance. Save the date! In addition to the fantastic dance performance, there will be a silent auction and door prizes with 100 percent of the profits going to DAC where the funds will be directed to the Colon Cancer Club and Midwest Hospice and Palliative Care.

Louise adds, “I am truly passionate about this cause. Cancer is such an evil disease and when someone is stricken with cancer, it’s the whole family that suffers. To watch the person you love go through cancer and treatments is beyond anything I can describe, especially when the treatment is unsuccessful.”

What a wonderful way to honor her friend and not only give back, but fight back.

As always, email me with any news, topics or ideas that you want to read about. Remember, I’d like to be the first to know! I can be reached at laurenbgpatch@aol.com.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?