Preparing for a dance-off at the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Ball

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Jeanne Kozlowski, whose husband died of Alzheimer’s disease, prepares to compete in a fundraising dance-off with her teacher Carlos Pabon in the Alzheimer’s Association’s annual Memory Ball.

Kozlowski, 64, of Columbia, first took dance lessons when she was a young woman — for more than 10 years, she took ballet lessons — but stopped when she began working full time. She discovered ballroom dancing in 2008, long after her husband’s diagnosis.

“It was a song in me that had not been sung,” Kozlowski said. “It was something that I had always wanted to do, and it helped, helps me cope.”