In 2011, my friend Mary Jo Garrity, (a lovely singer) and I were planning to create a full length production entitled, “Heroines” to honor the many unsung female heroes throughout history using my non-profit agency, Heroes Unite as the platform. During our collaboration, her breast cancer remerged and metastized and three months later she was gone. I determined to move forward with the production focusing on the finale, which was to be a choir of breast cancer victors singing in celebration of life. Thus, The Heroines Choir was born.As an underprivileged youth my dance career transformed my life from one of fear, insecurity and no opportunity to one of great adventure, expression and fulfillment. Now, to repay my debt of gratitude, as Founder and Executive Director of Heroes Unite (www.heroesunite.org), we target special needs populations and use the power of a variety of arts to heal, transform and empower. We have been doing this for over 15 years with tremendous outcomes.
Singing, like all arts, are a divine form of expression that rejuvenate the soul. It is as simple as it is profound. One of the marvelous features of this project is that our Heroines are not professional singers. Most are just shower singers that love the feeling they get when singing. The Heroines Choir provides vocal training to any and all women, even supporters who are fighting indirectly. It’s astonishing that even with “chemo brain” our Heroines improve their cognition through the process of learning musical notes, choreography, timing, matching pitch, listening and so much more. What was seemingly impossible becomes a realized achievement. That’s empowerment that lasts a lifetime. It’s a unique “support group” in that although it may take time to train ones voice, there are multiple immediate benefits as well as developing unity with a group of women who are not just survivors, but victors. There is no pity here, just purpose and conviction to be our personal best. Our choir directresses, Analy Mendez and Candi Tandy (also a victor) are amazing in how they extract beautiful harmonies from us with their patience and impeccable skills. One of our Heroines has a lovely voice and has sung in choirs throughout school. But so terrified on being on stage, she never performed in public. Imagine the sense of self worth she now feels as an adult to have the opportunity to challenge her fear and get up on stage and finally fulfill a childhood dream. These types of experiences make a big difference in one’s personal outlook, which then permeate other areas of daily life. We commence all our rehearsals with 30 minutes of chi gung and meditation. This serves to improve health and restore internal balance by oxygenating the system with ancient Chinese energetic exercises. Another Heroine has suffered many years from chronic insomnia, she does her chi gung before bed and now sleeps like a baby. Our testimonials are staggering. We go beyond easing the trauma of the cancer experience, and actually rebuild, revitalize and reignite the mind, body and spirit.
Slowly but surely our country is recognizing the benefits of art as a healing modality. As owner of a Chinese arts facility (www.kungfuconnection.com) I can attest to the myriad of students with cancer who have replaced their medicine cabinets and chemo treatments with daily Chi Gung and are leading healthy harmonious lives without recurrences. We encourage more women to join us in our joyful battle as we not only heal ourselves, but inspire our audiences with our infectious spirit of hope. Everyone is welcome to change their lives with us and explore the wonderful world of the healing arts.
