Artist dances experience with breast cancer across ETSU stage
Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: News
Chattanooga resident and dance artist Ann Law will present "Passion Flower," her one-woman dance concert about her experience with breast cancer, at East Tennessee State University on Saturday, Sept. 20.
The 8 p.m. concert in the Bud Frank Theatre in Gilbreath Hall is co-sponsored by ETSU's Mountain Movers Dance Company, Division of Theatre and Dance, and Women's Resource Center.
Although Law had no symptoms, a routine mammogram revealed a tiny mass that was diagnosed as breast cancer in June 2006. She soon underwent a radical mastectomy of her right breast, and later had her left breast removed as a preventive measure.
"I don't know if I survived this cancer, but part of my healing from breast cancer is participating 100 percent," Law said in a documentary video by Chattanooga videographer Jarrod Whaley.
A nationally recognized solo artist, Law created a powerful, poignant performance as a way to heal and deepen her experience with the disease, depicting how "her understanding of breast cancer grew, like a passionflower vine, from malignant seed to radiant flower."
According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Law decided not to use a padded bra or seek reconstructive surgery due to the restrictions these would place upon her dancing skills, but she did go through many of the struggles common to those who have experienced breast cancer, including difficulty in finding clothing for "her new 'look'" and discomfort with her own naked body.
"'I never stepped out of the bathroom without a T-shirt or towel around me. I never got into the bed I had shared with the same man for 27 years without covering up,'" she told Times Free Press reporter Kathy Gilbert.
Eventually, Law overcame that fear by having a former dance student tattoo across her chest a passionflower vine that was drawn by her longtime friend, artist Mary Petruska.
Law told Gilbert that the tattoo was not just a cover-up or "art on my chest," but was more of an "artistic statement" that said, "'I will not let you get the best of me. I am here. I am powerful. I am strong. I am still, and always will be, beautiful' . . . 'It was the first time since the loss of both of my breasts that I felt whole. It was the most amazing healing process I could have ever wished for.'"
The 8 p.m. concert in the Bud Frank Theatre in Gilbreath Hall is co-sponsored by ETSU's Mountain Movers Dance Company, Division of Theatre and Dance, and Women's Resource Center.
Although Law had no symptoms, a routine mammogram revealed a tiny mass that was diagnosed as breast cancer in June 2006. She soon underwent a radical mastectomy of her right breast, and later had her left breast removed as a preventive measure.
"I don't know if I survived this cancer, but part of my healing from breast cancer is participating 100 percent," Law said in a documentary video by Chattanooga videographer Jarrod Whaley.
A nationally recognized solo artist, Law created a powerful, poignant performance as a way to heal and deepen her experience with the disease, depicting how "her understanding of breast cancer grew, like a passionflower vine, from malignant seed to radiant flower."
According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Law decided not to use a padded bra or seek reconstructive surgery due to the restrictions these would place upon her dancing skills, but she did go through many of the struggles common to those who have experienced breast cancer, including difficulty in finding clothing for "her new 'look'" and discomfort with her own naked body.
"'I never stepped out of the bathroom without a T-shirt or towel around me. I never got into the bed I had shared with the same man for 27 years without covering up,'" she told Times Free Press reporter Kathy Gilbert.
Eventually, Law overcame that fear by having a former dance student tattoo across her chest a passionflower vine that was drawn by her longtime friend, artist Mary Petruska.
Law told Gilbert that the tattoo was not just a cover-up or "art on my chest," but was more of an "artistic statement" that said, "'I will not let you get the best of me. I am here. I am powerful. I am strong. I am still, and always will be, beautiful' . . . 'It was the first time since the loss of both of my breasts that I felt whole. It was the most amazing healing process I could have ever wished for.'"
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