By Johanna C. Scully

As I imitated her fluid, spunky movements in a Broadway Dance Center’s (BDC) Friday night beginner Hip Hop class, I couldn’t help but be amazed that this gorgeous woman who look not a day over 25, was approaching her 42nd birthday. I was even more dumbfounded to learn that not too long ago she had been lying in a hospital bed in a coma at 67 pounds, with cancer consuming her entire body.

Originally from Philadelphia, Penn., Beverly Brown, known as Bev by her peers, had always wanted to be a dancer but because she was overweight and very smart her parents wouldn’t allow her to take lessons; instead they wanted her to be a doctor or a lawyer. Her parents’ limitations and her lack of money did not stop her from fulfilling her dream. She left home at 18 to become an exotic dancer (at a place where touching was forbidden) so that she could save money to take dance lessons. She finally started taking lessons at the Jazz Dance Center in Philadelphia at the age of 23, quite an old age to start studying to be a professional dancer.

In tight blue jeans, a maroon velvet long sleeved shirt, sneakers and a maroon bandana covering her short bleached hair, Brown is the symbol of health, sometimes teaching three hip hop/funk classes in a row at BDC. About 10 years ago, she received terrible news. Ironically, a car accident saved her life as doctors in the emergency room found Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma all over her body.

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphomas are cancers of lymphoid tissue such as lymph nodes, the spleen and other organs of the immune system. They can be slow growing (low-grade) or rapidly growing (high-grade) cancers. For most patients, the cause is unknown, but lymphomas may develop in people with suppressed immune systems such as the result of an organ transplant. Usually this disease affects people older than 50 and only about three in 10,000. The rate of survival in high-grade Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is only 30 percent.

Brown began vigorous chemotherapy but continued dancing, and many months later, the cancer went into remission. It came back though, in full force, and as machines kept her alive, doctors told her family that she had less than a month to live.

By a miracle, Brown’s cancer went into remission again and as she gained strength she decided to go to Mexico to study nutrition, natural healing, herbs and supplements that could help protect her body and rebuild her immune system. She takes multivitamins, extra vitamin C and certain herbs such as red clover and garlic every day. She also learned how to eat again and although she says she messes up all the time, she has learned to listen to her body.

“I don’t eat until my body tells me I’m hungry. I am really not perfect at my diet. I’m a fat girl at heart and if it wasn’t for me taking these herbs and supplements I wouldn’t be doing as well,” Brown said.

Since she stays up most of the night, breakfast is usually at noon and a typical meal might consist of French toast and sausages. She sometimes forgets to eat as she is running out the door to teach a class, so you might catch her taking a few bites of a fruit and yogurt parfait or of an exotic fruit salad as she goes over to the stereo system to put on Ciara’s “One, Two Step.”

Because she teaches 12 classes a week, she never does even one push-up or sit-up outside of class. But anyone who watches her dance can see that she is in top form and condition even though she has the capacity of only one lung. The capacity cut is because doctors removed a piece of her lung during various surgeries and mass amounts of scar tissue remain, making physical exertion difficult.

Not only does she devote a lot of time to BDC, she has her own dance company that she created in 1987, called P-Funk Dance Company, originally based in Philadelphia. The company, made up of over 50 dancers, has performed for the Queen Latifa Show and the Dave Chappelle Show, among others in various major cities. Now, most of her original dancers either teach at BDC with her, are dancing in other companies or have their own companies. As of now, Brown is taking a break from her company just to catch her breath.

“BDC just added two more classes to my schedule. And I live in New Jersey so I am commuting back and forth to New York City. I am just doing so much, but I love it. Even with all I have been through I still feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I get to pass on my passion and what I’ve learned from life to my students,” Brown said.

I asked her how she stays looking so young and healthy and she replied that she never puts on make-up like foundation or powder.

“Heavy make-up weighs down pores and makes people look old really fast. All I use, morning and night, is soap and water – that really helps make my skin look smooth. If I do wear make-up it is just eyeliner and eye shadow. I believe in natural beauty,” Brown said.

Even though she is beautiful on the outside, her immune system is still weak. She had Pneumonia four times, the disease that killed her sister. And during the past week she has been fighting off the Measles. She doesn’t think of herself though, she just wishes she could take care of everybody else in the world.

“Everyone thinks I am so mean because I push them to the extent I know they can go. But in reality I am such a pussycat. People who see me in class would never know that I am so emotional,” Brown said.

Brown has learned through her tough life that you have to be honest and true to yourself. She says that we wind up pretending so much of the time that we waste our lives. We need to be real because that’s when our dreams come true. And she certainly knows about dreams coming true. Dance helped her accomplish her goals and fight off deadly disease.

Dance, any type of dance, can burn calories, improve the cardiovascular system, prevent osteoporosis, improve flexibility and endurance, improve self-image, build confidence in social situations, contribute to weight loss or weight management, build up the immune system to help fight off disease, decrease the risk of depression and help people focus and enjoy fulfilling lives.

The Broadway Dance Center, located at 221 West 57th St. above the Hard Rock Café in Manhattan, offers many different classes including ballet, jazz, hip hop, theatre, tap, contemporary and more. There are 15 successful teachers in addition to Brown and about 32 guest and visiting teachers. Each one brings their own style and flavor to the studio, allowing students to choose which one most expresses their inner selves.

“I highly recommend BDC. It is great for beginners; the staff makes sure you are satisfied and there are lots of choices for classes,” Brown said.

She also added that people can use hip-hop to learn how to move their bodies and to express themselves more freely even if it is just at a club. They discover that they are stronger than they think, and they become empowered.

“I push dancers because I know they can do it. I don’t care if beginners can’t do full one-handed push-ups, but they can at least hold themselves up using one hand,” Brown said.

Each energizing class at BDC is an hour and a half of non-stop aerobic dance and with studios filled with all shapes and sizes, all races and nationalities, beginners and pros; nobody looks stupid. Classes are affordable at $15 a class; the best $15 one can spend. Plus you get an excuse to go into the city for a much-needed change of pace.

Margo Russell, a senior accounting major and French minor, said, “Dancing at BDC has provided me with an outlet to do something different besides work and school; and it motivates me to challenge myself with something new. I get a great workout and I realize just how much I am capable of. Hip hop makes me feel powerful and Bev is an amazing teacher and an inspiration to me.”

As the loud beats of Busta Rhyme or L.L. Cool J. fill the ears and hearts of the dancers, Brown shuts off the lights so that they will give the routinetheir all without looking in the mirrors at themselves or worrying about observers watching them. In a city where endless entertainment possibilities abound, hundreds of young people choose to spend their Friday nights sweating and swaying their shoulders and shaking their booties at BDC. As Bev Brown has shown through her incredible journey of life, anyone with a true desire to achieve his or her dreams can. She didn’t and still doesn’t let anything, including lack of money and support, cancer and other diseases and only having one lung, stand in her way.

And as soon as I think I know everything about Brown including how she toured the world choreographing and performing, how she was featured in commercials, movies, TV shows and music videos, she surprises me again. She tells me that whenever she has free time and is not visiting her four brothers and one sister, you can find her in the pool halls.

“It’s true,” Brown said. “I’m a true pool shark.”

You can find out more about the Broadway Dance Center and its faculty at www.broadwaydancecenter.com and to learn more about Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, go to www.nonhodgkinslymphoma.com. Dance. It’s fun, it’s safe and it’s disease-fighting.