A Dancer Story

It had only been three weeks, but she was already comfortable on the crutches.  She was strong, fit, and could balance deftly on her left leg. Sometimes it was easier to hop without the crutches, but it was odd. From her right knee down her leg was gone. 

Only a short while ago she had been a dancer working her way up in a well known urban modern dance company. Racing to a dance class, she tried jumping onto a moving train. Classic story. The other dancers embraced her desperately as she lived out their worst nightmare. 

She had moved to her parent’s home to recover, and she missed her dancers. Her father agreed to drive her into visit her friends before their next practice.

Seeing her in the studio was good for everyone. She could sit in the locker room as if they were all going in for another grueling practice. There was lots of joy and relief as she relaxed and kidded everyone as usual. Then it was time, and they all filed out into the studio. She followed them on her crutches, not clear what she was doing.  Everyone took their place with one hand on the barre, as the ballet teacher began to call out the combinations for the dancers.

“Plie”, “battements tendus”, “grand battement”…. Each dancer shifted to the position of each call.

She leaned her crutches against the wall, grabbed hold of the barre and did the “plie” with as much posture and poise as she could manage.  The ballet teacher paused so briefly when he realized she had joined the class. He quickly continued, “Petits battement”. One dancer gasped, another stopped.  The 70-year-old founder of the company abruptly left the studio to hide her tears. The moment was preciously quiet. On one leg she was back, and she was going to dance again. 

And she did.