CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. β A beloved dance teacher who touched thousands of lives in Chesterfield County is being remembered for her unwavering compassion and dedication, even while battling breast cancer for 13 years.
Pam Le Bescond, a New York native, launched Spotlight Studio of Dance and the Arts in Midlothian with a dream to create a dance haven that felt like home. For more than two decades, she coached and cared for thousands of dancers, always displaying a passion for people that extended far beyond the studio walls.
"She was my first dance teacher growing up," Sierra Butler said. "She was just so energetic, she would work so hard in each of her classes."
Sierra and her sister Chloe Butler had a front-row seat to their mother's compassionate spirit, watching as she became a motherly figure to countless students.
"She was meant to be like a motherly figure, not just to us and my siblings, but to everyone else who walked through the door," Chloe Butler said.
Even while battling breast cancer for 13 years, Pam carried a spirit of compassion and wore a smile through her most difficult days.
"It was very much, I am coexisting with it, but I'm gonna live my life because that's all you can do," Chloe Butler said.
Pam passed away in September, leaving behind a community deeply impacted by the absence of her bright light and warm embrace.
"I think it is very evident with her passing, just how many people she touched," Chloe Butler said.
The community left an outpouring of support outside the safe space she created, showing the profound impact she had on so many lives.
"When my sister and I came into the studio, we had a lineup of flowers and cards that were left here. That was just really touching," Chloe Butler said.
Alexis Cohen, once a student and now a dance teacher, is among the many who say they're better because of Pam's influence.
"Everybody that has truly known Ms. Pam for who she is, who knows her, who understands, will deeply miss her," Cohen said.
Cohen shared that the loss of her former teacher brings up difficult emotions.
"I was always prepared for what I would say but I wasn't prepared for the emotional part of it, because it's easy to talk about her but not about the emotional stuff," Cohen said. "She not only had a vision for the entire studio and her staff, but she had a vision for people that were her clients. Because they weren't just clients to her, they were people that she wanted to truly guide and that's what she did for me."
Despite being devastated that their mother, dance teacher and biggest cheerleader is no longer here, her daughters and the tight-knit community she created are committed to carrying on her legacy of love.
"Although things may look a little different here or there, there's not a lot that will change, because we all plan to live by her day-to-day life lessons," Chloe Butler said.
Now, through her daughters, Pam's influence will continue to spread to future generations.
"It's not that she told me and showed me how to do a job, it's she instilled in me a passion to do and love what I do and so I think that just continuing it on not only continues her legacy but also to spread it to more generations, it doesn't just end with her," Sierra Butler said.
The studio plans to dedicate their next dance recital to Pam's memory.
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