Injury: Looking At The Bigger Picture
Photo, courtesey: Southeastern Reporter Injury – it's a dirty word for dancers of all levels. With it, we associate a diminished existence—where we are stripped of the very thing that gives us joy—they ability to express ourselves without limits, both in class and in performance. At once, you feel useless, devoid of identity, left out, and the fear of being forgotten starts to take hold—these thoughts, as we later learn, are counterproductive to the healing process. Instead, we need to take the opportunity for our body to be heard, to take a rest, and to flesh out the other parts of us that make us the individual and special artists that we are. The views of injuries as “death sentences” for a dancer's career are outdated and old-fashioned. I have countless colleagues who speak of their injuries as positive, mind-set changing experiences—when they used the time to actually heal. I broke my foot twice while dancing with The Sacramento Ballet, and it only made me a s...