Jun 17, 2016 3 min read

In celebration of our nation’s birth, Canonsburg hosts an annual 4th of July parade every year.

In support of children in Washington County who suffer from life-changing illnesses, Joyce Ellis, who used to head the Joyce Ellis Dancers, will be coming out of retirement to dance in the parade to raise money and awareness.

Ellis, currently the executive director of LeMoyne Community Center in Washington, was previously the owner of her own dance studio. In 2008, Ellis retired from her long-time dancing career, sold her business and focused on bringing the community center back to life after it was out of service for four years because of a fire.

Now, Ellis has heard the calling to dance once again in an effort to raise money to help pay the medical expenses for four children in Washington county – Jaiden Cook, 6 months, who has plagiocephaly and torticollis; Ryan Leeper, 1, who has Moebius syndrome, Cruz Miller, 18 months, who has leukemia, and Maurika Moore, 14, who has cerebral palsy and brain cancer.

Ellis wants to “ease the burden” that has been put on these families because of the illnesses or medical bills they are experiencing. Two of the kids, Jaiden and Ryan, are children of former dancers enrolled at the studio during their youth.

Ellis herself is a survivor of colon cancer, so she finds this the appropriate cause to come out of dancing retirement.

Lauren Leeper, mother of Ryan, began dancing with the Joyce Ellis Dancers before the age of 5, and continued to dance through high school. Moebius syndrome is a rare neurological disorder that leaves Ryan unable to smile, frown, blink or move his eyes from side to side.

“For Joyce to give a voice to these children and these families, that’s one of the main things that we can ask for,” said Leeper, of South Strabane Township. “You can’t cure certain diseases, but you can spread awareness. Spreading awareness makes life easier. It helps other people to understand and react.”

In order to raise money, Ellis will be selling T-shirts that read “I danced with the Joyce Ellis Dancers, I can survive anything and everything.” The shirts will be sold for $15 apiece by L.A. Sweets the day of the parade.

Ellis also asked during the parade as she and her fellow dancers come down the street, that everyone do the “Victory Dance,” a simple dance where one merely pumps his or her fist in the air.

“Everyone can do it even if you’re in a wheelchair. Anyone can do it,” Ellis said. “That victory dance would be something for you, your own victory, or someone you know who survived cancer and that victory for them.”