Three LT students made a decision to have a dance clothes resale in their dance studio. They aim to raise awareness and raise money to donate to a cancer charity called Dancers Against Cancer.

The girls, Elena Chronis ‘20, Rebecca Birch ‘21, and Nicole Chronis ‘22, had an idea to turn a local studio, Impact Dance Studio, into a dance clothes resale with the help of their dance teacher, Diane Fotino. The resale started up on September 9, 2019. The girls hope to not just raise money for the charity, but they also want to raise awareness for the cause. Dancers Against Cancer was founded in 2007 by Jody Isenhour. Insenhour, while tackling being a wife, mother, dancer, and instructor, was also a survivor of cancer. Since then, she has created an organization for artists and supporters of the arts who are passionate about making a difference in their communities, according to dancersagainstcancer.org.

“I feel like the resale was a good way to really introduce parents and kids to the charity and make sure they knew every dollar was going to a good place,” Birch said.

Convincing the girls’ dance instructor to use the studio for the resale was not a difficult task for them, Birch said. When Fotino heard about the cause they were raising money for, she agreed and was on board with the idea right away. The studio has a stretch in it so there was plenty of room to set up everything.

The person in charge of the resale and the person that came up with the idea was Elena Chronis, Birch said. She felt that the charity needed to be recognized. The charity was a great way to combine her love of dancing with a good deed, and she took her old dancing leotards and other dancing attire and resold it at the studio.

“Right when I heard about the organization, I just knew I had to do something to help out,” Elena said.

The three girls have been dancing almost since birth and it has been their biggest passion, Birch said. Birch met the two Chronis sisters through dance and their friendship has been unbreakable. They have grown to be like sisters and it shows how dancing can bring people together and why Dancers Against Cancer is so important to many young girls and teenagers everywhere.

“Helping these dancers means so much to me, I couldn’t imagine a life where I couldn’t dance,” Elena said.