Members of the Moxie Dance Project held a fundraiser for the Project Heal Foundation on Saturday, Sept. 15.
Project Heal was co-founded by three teenage girls in New York. They all met while being treated for anorexia nervosa and then decided to help other girls in the country accept their own body image.
Eleanor Mastiner and Ashley Adams, who are students at Isidore Newman, both had troubles with eating disorders, so they opened the Louisiana chapter of Project Heal.
“Eleanor approached me about forming the chapter towards the end of May after doing some research about eating disorder organizations. She really wanted to find a program to give back to, having suffered from an eating disorder herself, and felt that I would be a good person to work with since we had talked about me struggling with body image issues before,” said Ashley Adams, a senior at Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans.
“Project Heal helped me personally with my struggles of anorexia. Then I realized I wanted to get more involved, but I realized I needed help. So I contacted Ashley, who I knew would be a great fit,” said Mastiner, a junior at Isidore Newman.
The day of master classes included a musical theatre routine, contemporary routine and a Zumba fitness routine which was taught by two Moxie members, Mandie Adams and Sarah Gregoire. Mandie Adams also struggled with an eating disorder from a very young age, which motivated her to work with Project Heal.
“I contacted them, since I have struggled with an eating disorder myself. They said they wanted to do their first fundraiser, so since I knew a lot of dancers I offered the idea,” said Mandie Adams, who is a junior majoring in social work with a minor in dance. “Plus I have the usage of the free studio. So it helped bring things together.”
The event was open to the community for people ages 12 and up. Moxie member Leah Reeb had some of her dance students from Just Dance Studios in Slidell join her for the classes. Students from Isidore Newman and other high schools also attended.
“I had a lot of fun meeting new people. The song choice from Hairspray was super fun to dance to,” said Andre ‘El Brown, a student from Southwest Mississippi Community College.
Holly Lenzen, a senior in family and consumer sciences with a minor in dance loved the class.

“Sarah, Mandie and I have been dancing together for years. The class was so much fun, dancing is always a good way to let energy out too,” Lenzen said.  
Tracy and Gregoire have almost 40 years of dance experience between them and have used that to give back to their community.
“The amount of people we got for the first fundraiser was pretty good too,” said Tracy.
Gregoire taught a musical theatre routine to Hairspray’s “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” and the senior education major loved experience of being the teacher.
“This is was my first time teaching a class,” said Gregoire. “They were a little stiff at first, but when the music came on they were great.”
All proceeds from the day’s event went to Project Heal. More information on Project HEAL – Louisiana and Moxie dance can be found on their respective Facebook pages.