Chiara during the filming - Photo by Montefiore
“You can do the Impossible, because you have been through the unimaginable, believe in yourself.”
“From every wound there is a scar, and every scar tells a story. A story that says I beat Cancer.”
Chiara Valle
REMEMBER
Documentary on Chiara Valle’s story
- Dancer: Chiara Valle
- Creative Director: Dael Oates
- Choreographer: Mimmo Miccolis
The documentary has been filmed at GMU/Hylton Theater and at The Washington Ballet.
From Chiara:
It’s something I tell myself often when it comes to cancer. That’s all you can really do, there are moments in your everyday life that will spark a flashback or feeling to a particular event that might have taken place during treatment. There are commercials and videos that suck me in and bring nothing but tears to my eyes. I can’t ever express what it is I went through, because no one will ever know until they themselves experience it. All I can say is, the treatment I went through felt as if I was being kept barely alive. The toxic amount of chemotherapy I went through made me vomit the second they started my infusion towards the end of treatment. My family and friends said it felt like I was bones when hugging me. My eyes were sucked in and I just looked sick. The funny thing is, all you think about during that time is just getting through treatment. I look back at it now, and it hits me more seeing how I looked and what I actually battled through. February 26th of 2018 I was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma, a rare form of pediatric bone cancer. Location, my upper femur. Do you know how hard that is to hear as a dancer, let alone any person? I used my legs every day for dance, and for the next 9 months I was basically confined to a hospital bed undergoing 14 cycles of chemotherapy and 31 rounds of radiation.
While I can’t explain the feeling, I feel as though the piece Remember captures the emotional aspect I felt. I remember coming to Mimmo about choreographing a piece on me based on my cancer story, after a media team from the hospital where I was treated asked if they could use me for a patient story. I was eager and excited when I came to him as he wrote down memorable parts of my story. We started working together almost immediately and it just clicked. We started the choreography as though nothing was wrong, it was just me dancing. You wouldn’t think cancer was a part of my life. However, as the piece continues, you see the focus and pain go to my left upper leg. Something is causing the erratic and painful movements, so much so that I fall to the ground. That was one of the moments captured. I used to crawl to my bathroom at night for a hot bath, before being diagnosed, as this was the only way the pain was relieved. Pain is often the most prominent signs of Ewing Sarcoma. We then continued the piece to where treatment has started and my hair falls out, redirecting that cause as a result of my cancer diagnosis. I continue, although struggling to get through the movements, a symbol of how I once felt. Towards the end there is a reaching moment, and this was the most prominent point that stuck in Mimmo’s head. I told him when he was thinking of what to choreograph, that I couldn’t even walk to my hospital bathroom that was in the same room. Due to side effects and low blood counts, I was weak and breathing heavily when I had to move too much. The piece continues to where I fall to the floor but see there is hope.
The next part of the piece is one of my favorite and most emotional moments. During treatment, I met a 12-year-old little boy named Nimo. Our families became close and I always loved to see his fighting and smiling spirit. I went to visit him often after treatment, but unfortunately his health was deteriorating. Cancer was taking control. As a cancer survivor, this was so hard for me to witness. No kid should have to hear the words cancer and go through the treatment it requires. On Christmas day of 2019 Nimo passed away. I was a mess that day, but his family said he would want to see me dancing. I performed in The Nutcracker that day and it was one of the most emotional and hardest days of my life, but I performed my heart out. I told myself it was the first time Nimo got to see me dance. I think I looked to the celling once, my way of reaching him. Mimmo knew this important aspect to my life and incorporated this into the piece. At the end of the piece you see I portray wings, and this is a symbol and reference to Nimo, a little boy I consider to be one of my guardian angels now. Those wings turn into a focus point at the audience. The last look I make with the crowd, is a symbol that we need your help. Childhood cancer needs more awareness and funding, and it stems from we the people. This is something I hope you can REMEMBER.
I could not be happier with the process of working and choreographing with Mimmo. He got my emotional aspect so well and it is a piece I hope to continue showing to the world in the years to come. I hope it becomes something to Remember.
Chiara Valle
