Laysan Utyasheva met with girls who beat cancer as part of the "Dance of Life" project

The special project "Dance of Life" by Super, Laysan Utyasheva and the charity foundation "We Will Win Cancer" was released, within the framework of which the gymnast met with the foundation's wards who managed to overcome cancer. Utyasheva told how, after an injury, dance and her project "Carmen PS" helped her find herself and the strength to fight.

Utyasheva's Carmen PS show is a reinterpretation of the classic novel by the French writer Prosper Mérimée. "For me, our performance is a story of a woman's rebirth. It's about a woman who once fell, but she had enough strength to get up and be reborn, like a phoenix, to give this world some heat. Makeup with red lips says: yes, I know the taste of blood. Maybe even my own, but I am above whining and self-pity. I will go and do it beautifully, like no one else can. All the girls dancing in my cast are strong personalities, each of them has experienced her own crisis. And each time they are reborn on stage," said Laysan.

According to her, dance has healing powers. 'Dance heals the body, spirit and emotions. It's time for yourself, when you can heal internal and physical problems. After my leg injury, I could hardly walk. But thanks to dance, I can not only feel my leg - I can do flamenco elements with it. Dance also helped after pregnancy, when I needed a breath of fresh air. At that time, I was sick of the thought of locking myself in the gym again - I could not imagine myself on the track. But I needed not only to get my body back in shape, but also to get rid of the depression that had accompanied me since the moment I lost my mother (Utyasheva's mother died after a heart attack in 2012 - Ed.)

Another participant in the project, Lusine, shared her experience. "Thanks to dance, we show a positive example to those who are going through cancer treatment. I think there are so many such examples: in films, to add drama to the plot, they introduce a character with a diagnosis, which creates stereotypes about the disease and treatment. If I had not met the women from the project, I would still think that cancer is a death sentence."

"Women, no matter whether they have had cancer or not, can have complexes about their appearance. During classes, I try to stir them up so that they release negative emotions through their bodies. When I turn on the music, I see how they dance and change. Their femininity does not depend on the length of their hair. It lies in the energy that we radiate," says Tatyana, another participant in the "Dance of Life" project.