By Tara Fischer
Staff Writer
(Oct. 8, 2026) Driven by a local woman’s passion for healing movement, a breast cancer awareness fundraiser will take the form of a dance party at Seacrets next Wednesday, Oct. 14, with participants merging Zumba with philanthropy.
For the past four years, Zumba instructor Joyce Landsman, who teaches dance-fitness throughout the Eastern Shore, has spearheaded Ocean City’s Move for the Cure to raise funds for the Salisbury-based breast cancer awareness nonprofit Women Supporting Women.
Funds collected for and by Women Supporting Women stay within the Eastern Shore community, giving back to the residents who are survivors of or are suffering from breast cancer.
The organization’s services include wigs, hats, and scarves; mentoring; educational programs; post-surgery pillows; and bras and prostheses.
According to Landsman, 100% of the money raised through Move for the Cure is given to Women Supporting Women.
Doors will open at 5 p.m. at Seacrets for next Wednesday’s event with a start time of 5:45 p.m. Nine different Zumba instructors from Pure Fitness will lead attendees in dance moves and styles.
The entry fee is $30. This includes one free beer, wine, or soda offered by Seacrets.
In addition to dancing, the event will feature a raffle for the chance to win one of many gift baskets valued at $150 or more. The care packages are stuffed with items and gift cards contributed by community businesses, including clothing shops, grocery stores, restaurants and spas.
Landsman said companies that donated to the baskets include Oysters and Scales, Spain Wine Bar, South Mood Under, Barn 34, Flagship Cinemas, Touch of Italy, Sello’s, Bliss Salon and Spa, Pines Public House, Serpone’s Pizzeria, Surfin’ Betty’s Burger Bar, Sunset Grille, Fractured Prune, Harborside Bar and Grill, Nantucket’s, the Lobster Shanty, and more.
“Community is everything because so many restaurants, so many different companies have given tremendous gifts to us and we put together baskets,” Landsman said. “Not one basket is less than $150.”
The fundraiser will also include a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction.
Attendees can bid on silent auction items, including offerings from Ocean City Golf Club, Glen Riddle Golf Club, The Rookery Golf Course, and/or the accessory boutique Lisi Lerch.
Landsman said last year’s event raised $10,000. She hopes to raise more this time around for Women Supporting Women.
The dance party isn’t the only way Move for the Cure organizers intend to secure funds. They are also partnering with Old Pro Golf, which, throughout October, will provide a discount on Wednesdays to any players wearing pink or other breast cancer awareness attire. A portion of those sales will be offered to Women Supporting Women.
Landsman said that she came up with Move for the Cure a little over four years ago when she realized how many women in her Zumba classes were breast cancer survivors.
“So many of the ladies in my class are survivors of breast cancer,” she said. “And some of them, while I was teaching them, discovered they had breast cancer…It was their energy and positivity and hope and everything about them that made me think, ‘We gotta do something special.’ So, I started this, and it has grown into an enormous event.”
Landsman is encouraging anyone interested in attending the dance party to register early at https://moveforthecureoc.com. The $30 fee can be paid through Venmo. Questions may be directed to organizers at moveforthecureoc@gmail.com.
Sponsors include Taylor Bank, Brasure’s Pest Control, The Jack Burbage Foundation, Bayside Skillet, Farmers Bank of Willards, Old Pro Golf, and Kathy Clark of Monogram Realty.
Attendees are encouraged to join the dances, but Landsman said everyone is welcome, even if they prefer to stand or sit off to the side and clap along to the upbeat tunes.
“The event will be electric,” Landsman said. “It’s very, very positive. It gives hope, and the goal is one day for pink to be just a color.”