Injuries:

People always say having injuries changes the way you view life and it is so true. However this didn’t really affect me the first two times I sprained my left ankle. I actually approached the situation horribly wrong. I allowed my depression take over my life. I started eating more and I got really lazy, which didn’t help with the Holidays coming up. Still to this day I am trying to shed off those couple of extra pounds I put on during my recovery process.

I would be lying if I said that nothing changed on how I viewed things because a little did in relation to dance. The times I would go to class I was able to really listen to my instructors and really get a clear understanding on their study of dance. It was such an amazing experience being able to sit, watch and listen. It is something that majority of dancers never get to do and I believe it is too great of an experience not to give it a chance, except of course not the getting injured part.

Anyways getting this opportunity to observe in class really helped me when I started to take class again. It wasn't easy; it took me about 3-4 weeks until I was able to do big jumps again. I had to work small and work my way back up. But while doing so I was able to apply what I learned by observing to my training. I was working in a new way. I was more aware of my body and my alignment. I found it very crazy to think that in order for myself to experience this, I needed to get injured. And I really do think there’s a difference in my dancing this year and in my studies of dance. Not only because I felt it, which can be misleading because you don’t always look the way you feel, but also because I received complements on my dancing and growth by fellow classmates.