For the seventh time, the Breast Cancer Foundation in Egypt (BCFE) launched the highly anticipated annual pink party, to celebrate the fight against the disease and raise more awareness about it. The event was held at the Conrad hotel in Cairo, and lasted from 9am until 3pm.

The Zumba dances were conducted on tunes of the eighties and nineties, which was the main theme of the party, where more than a thousand women- many of whom are breast cancer survivors- attended the dancing and cheering of the power of survival.

Ghada Mostafa, media manager of BCFE, said that since its launch more than a decade ago, The Breast Cancer Foundation has put the cause of raising awareness regarding breast cancer on the forefront of its agenda.

She added that each year more and more numbers of Zumba instructors from Egypt and other countries volunteer to participate for free in the party for the noble cause.

Prominent Zumba instructors taking part at the party included Hager Abu El Enein, Emylin Lavander, Mariam Eissa, Jessie El Baz, Noha Fathi, Dina Raafat, and others.

In the beginning, attendants danced to the music of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller', before more tunes from the eighties and nineties followed, particularly those of the famous Spice Girls band, bringing a sweet and joyful nostalgia to the audience.

The novelty about the party this year is the introduction of the Zumba dance to the soundtrack 'You are still beautiful' whose lyrics celebrates the beauty and bravery of female cancer fighters, for the first time in an Arabic language song.

Ghada Salah, head of women's health section at BCFE and the one who brought up the idea of the song, said that the aim was breaking the taboo and sending a message that a cancer fighter, beauty and social life endures despite her struggle.

Jubilant participants took part in a prize draw and were awarded goodies and brochures that highlight the right kind of nutrition, exercise and lifestyle that should be adopted by ladies to reduce the likelihood of getting breast cancer.

In Egypt, according to the latest statistics from the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer accounts for 37.5 percent of all cancer cases.