Take #TheTurningChallenge, Help the Fight Against Breast Cancer

It’s been a little over a year since Maggie Kudirka—aka the Bald Ballerina—was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Beautiful Maggie. (Luis Pons Photography, courtesy Kudirka)

Now, thankfully, the lovely 24-year-old dancer is well along her road to recovery. And she’s decided to mark the anniversary of her first chemotherapy treatment by starting a campaign to benefit other breast cancer sufferers—a campaign with a dance twist, naturally. Meet #TheTurningChallenge.

Inspired in part by the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, which has seen such incredible success, Maggie is asking people to post videos of themselves turning—any turn will do!—and to nominate three or more people to do so as well. Those who don’t complete the challenge (or, really, anyone involved, whether or not they get their pirouette on) can donate to METAvivor, an organization that raises funds for metastatic breast cancer research.

Though you don’t have to wait for a nomination to tackle the challenge, we officially nominate ALL OF YOU—and you’ll be in good company! Since dancers love both pirouette videos and supporting good causes, the campaign has spread rapidly. Maggie only announced #TheTurningChallenge a few days ago, and already a slew of people, including some famous faces, have taken it on.

We’ve admired the pretty pirouettes of Juliet Doherty…

A video posted by Juliet Doherty (@julietdoherty)
on

Jul 3, 2015 at 2:04pm PDT

…Miko Fogarty (nominated by Juliet!)…

A video posted by Miko Fogarty ? (@mikofogarty)
on

Jul 6, 2015 at 4:50pm PDT

…Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist Margaret Mullin…

A video posted by Margaret Mullin (@margaretmullin)
on

Jul 2, 2015 at 5:41pm PDT

…and, of course, Maggie herself:

A video posted by @baldballerina
on

Jun 30, 2015 at 8:41am PDT

Non-dancers—and even non-humans—are welcome to participate, too. Maggie’s adorable doggie, Miss Vickie, submitted one of my personal favorite entries:

A video posted by @baldballerina
on

Jul 5, 2015 at 10:28am PDT

Bravo, Maggie! Visit the Bald Ballerina website and the Turning Challenge Facebook page for more information—and get pirouetting!