We recently received a message from a dancer: “I’ve had

[surgery] and I’m having a hard time getting back into dancing. I feel like when I contract nothing happens, and isolations are really painful. I’m on the verge of giving up, I can’t even roll my belly anymore.”

This particular dancer will have a journey involving factors and choices personal to her case, but, there are common themes to her situation that we all can share. Every dancer will encounter times of recovery and rehabilitation. Some injuries take what may seem like an excruciating amount of healing time, and often a dancer never returns to where she was before. . .her body changes over time due to many reasons. Don’t give up. You can come out the other side a better dancer with better understanding of your body and emotions. Continue effective training, but learn how to adjust and adapt to continue in your dance. Continue to love and honor your body, allow yourself to mourn if needed but more forward, and keep yourself open to creativity and growth. Perspective can change and grow. . . you can evolve.

Recovery is part of our Today’s Word: Sometimes We Have Something to Sayseries in which we discuss in brief the common themes and questions facing dancers.