Personal Essay: Dance Injury

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“It will take about three weeks to heal.” Those were the only words I dreaded hearing. The only words that I knew the doctor would say, but I was still in shock when I heard them. I knew that I only had three weeks left of my ballet summer intensive, and I knew that I had already sat out some classes. I had never had a major injury before, so knowing that I would be sitting out and watching class was a new experience for me, and experience that I thought I would hate. Until my injury, ballet had been my entire life. After dancing in the company on a two-week Mid-Western Nutcracker tour, I decided to devote all of my time and energy towards it, so having a setback was a challenging experience for me. I returned to my summer intensive for another …show more content…

Thoughts of never being able to dance again bounced continuously through my mind, and worry was often accompanied by those thoughts. I had injured myself while jumping; one of the main movements in ballet, and it had prevented me from dancing half of my summer. I was one of forty girls who were accepted into this ballet summer intensive, which consisted mostly of eating, sleeping, and having six dance classes daily. I felt accomplished being the youngest girl who was at the program for six weeks. I was heartbroken when I discovered my injury eight weeks after I had initially fallen and I ended up dancing for two weeks on a broken metatarsal before diagnosis, and sat out the remaining four weeks of the program. Injuries occur frequently and can be completely debilitating, especially for dancers, because dancers are completely immobilized when injured. It was then, while I was sitting out watching class and taking notes, that I broadened my view of my professional future. I have been blessed with perfect pitch, so singing comes naturally to me. I began voice lessons with a retired opera singer and I continue to train classically and in a more modern and Broadway oriented style. Previously, I had taken some tap classes at the beginning of the summer and took hip hop, jazz, modern, character, and flamenco before at workshops and summer intensives, so I had some experience with moving my body in different ways. I was eight years old when I danced “mouse” in my first Nutcracker performance, and I have been giving solo violin concerts since I age three, therefore stage presence comes naturally to me. Acting is only be adding words to express an emotion on stage, which I already do in dance with miming. Looking ahead, I hope to continue to pursue ballet, but also include musical theater as an art form in which I can fully put to use all of my talents and

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