FROM CANCER SURVIVORS TO BURLESQUE STARS

THESE nine inspiring burlesque dancers have a new lease of life and are about to bring colour, power and grace to a special Butterfly Ball.

- BY JACKIE ANNETT and LUCY LAING

The incredible troupe, aged from their 30s to 60s, are linked by more than just feather boas, swishing fancy frocks and a racy routine. Each has battled and survived breast cancer.

They will perform to This Is Me from The Greatest Showman at Saturday's event at Chester's Carden Park Hotel in aid of a breast cancer charity.

Organiser Sarah Pickles, 43, a teaching assistant who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 32, says: "I came up with the idea of the Butterfly Ball because going through cancer is very like the life cycle of the butterfly.

"When you come through you've a new found beauty and strength that you didn't know you had."

She says burlesque has empowered the dancers: "They are glowing and all say they now have a new lease of life, which is wonderful.

Mum-of-three Sarah, of Sandbach, Cheshire, who has had a double mastectomy, says:

"These women are embracing their scars, their bodies and their journeys and have stepped out of their comfort zone to take on this challenge. We are creating something beautiful."