BY JIM HALL

Hundreds of employees at Mary Washington Healthcare danced through the hallways last week in support of breast cancer research.

The workers wore pink T-shirts, hats, sunglasses and boas, and danced to Katy Perry's "Part of Me."

A video featuring their best moves will be entered in the national Pink Glove Dance competition.

"We're trying to get as many people involved as possible," said Amy Uriell, a Fredericksburg-area nurse anesthetist and one of the organizers.

Medline, a medical supply company, sponsors the national competition during October to raise money for breast cancer causes. The company says it will donate $17,000 to the winners' favorite breast cancer charities.

This is the second year for the contest and the first year that Mary Washington workers have participated. Last year workers from 139 hospitals and nursing homes donned pink examination gloves and created dance videos.

A volunteer film crew spent two days at Mary Washington and Stafford hospitals and in satellite facilities such as the Fredericksburg Ambulatory Surgery Center.

The workers in some units created their own routines, but others, such as those on 2 South in the Fredericksburg hospital, relied on Ramil Reluya.

Reluya usually works as a nurse in Mary Washington's emergency department. For the competition, he was cameraman and dance director.

On 2 South, the cardiac unit, he formed a conga line of workers and sent them around the nurses' station, while other workers followed with medication carts. One of those dancing was the husband of one of the patients.

"No, no, no," Reluya told the group at one point. "Let's do it again. Listen to the music."

Reluya estimated that he'll have four hours of video when filming is done. He'll edit that to a four-minute clip for the contest.

Organizers said they chose the Katy Perry song from six contest options because the lyrics offered inspiration to breast cancer patients.

"You're not gonna' break my soul," the song says. "This is the part of me that you're never gonna' ever take away from me."

The final segment of Mary Washington's video will be shot on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 5:15 p.m. at the traffic circle on the Fredericksburg hospital campus. The public is invited to participate.

The public also is invited to vote for a favorite video in the online balloting. The polls are open from Oct. 12 to 26 at pinkglovedance .com

Jim Hall: 540/374-5433
Email: jhall@freelancestar.com