News Flash: Last
Sunday at the Esplanade du Trocadero in Paris, a crowd of women performed a striptease
act, with a grande finale of bras thrown into the air!
Pink Bra Spring - March 24, 2013 |
Pinkbrabazaar.org |
What is this madness
about, you wonder? Surely arrests must have been made; these in addition
to the anti-gay marriage arrests taking place further down the road.
No, these burlesque
dancers braving the cold in their sexy outfits, were all part of Pink Bra
Bazaar's annual event, Pink Bra Spring, to promote breast health education. This striptease not
only entertained, but it was also instructional for the audience. An
important aspect of the dance was how it incorporated the movements for
performing your own self-breast exam.
Julia Palombe at the rehearsal |
The show opened with
several popular songs sung by the Mélodie du Bonheur choir. From the
middle of the choir, out sprang Julia Palombe, burlesque diva, and the dancers
- fishnets, feather boas and all. Then at the end of their dance, scores
of other women (and a few men and children!) joined in with them to throw their
bras into the air. Shutters clicked non-stop to capture the bras
mid-flight, since this was the moment that the press and all of the
photographers had been waiting for.
[Note: to keep this
event lighthearted and family-friendly, only the bras worn on top of people's
clothes were removed.]
Pink Bra Bazaar was
founded by WICE's very own Kate Kemp-Griffin (Creative Writing Program
Director). Here in the ex-pat community, it's easy to meet people who
have decided to follow their dreams and pursue their passion in Paris.
But what's rare to find is when that passion selflessly focuses on
helping other people. Kate created Pink Bra Bazaar to serve the dual
purpose of:
- Preventative breast health awareness
- Support for women who are diagnosed with breast cancer
Dancers demonstrating how to perform a self-breast exam |
In today's culture, the
main focus is on the appearance of breasts. As women, we spend lots of
time thinking about how our breasts look. As a result, inordinate amounts
of time and money are spent on making our breasts look more beautiful with
lingerie, pseudo medical products, and cosmetic surgery. Unfortunately
the same cannot be said about keeping our breasts healthy. For too many
women, self-breast exams and mammograms are just an afterthought, if thought of
at all.
Through Pink Bra Bazaar,
Kate aims to bridge the gap between having beautiful breasts adorned with
lovely lingerie and having healthy breasts. By working with the Lingerie
industry to spread awareness, Kate wants to make self-breast exams and mammograms
become commonplace topics, and more importantly, routine practices for women of
all ages, young and old.
A young supporter at the event |
To support women
diagnosed with breast cancer, one of Pink Bra Bazaar's current efforts is to
raise money to buy iPads for women to use during their chemotherapy treatments
at Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière. The iPads will be preloaded with
several applications providing resources and links to current events, fashion,
beauty, travel, art and humor. The goal of this program is to help women
mentally escape the burden of their treatments.
Kate Kemp-Griffin Founder of Pink Bra Bazaar |
Congratulations Kate for
putting together such a unique and fun event for getting people talking about and
spreading this important information to everyone!
Please support Kate's
efforts by learning more and donating to Pink Bra Bazaar at pinkbrabazaar.org.
***This post is dedicated
to the memory of Vanessa Kugler who left behind a wonderful husband and three
amazing and beautiful daughters. May we find a cure so that other
families do not have to endure the inconsolable grief that breast cancer
causes.
Post by Veronica Kugler
Photos by Kayla Kugler (8 years old!)