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The speaker reflects on their life-changing diagnosis of scoliosis, which threatened their passion for dance. Despite the challenges and feelings of loss, they found strength in perseverance and the wisdom of Maya Angelou, ultimately reclaiming their love for dance in a deeper way. The key message emphasizes that true grace arises from overcoming adversity rather than achieving perfection.

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24 views1 page

Text

The speaker reflects on their life-changing diagnosis of scoliosis, which threatened their passion for dance. Despite the challenges and feelings of loss, they found strength in perseverance and the wisdom of Maya Angelou, ultimately reclaiming their love for dance in a deeper way. The key message emphasizes that true grace arises from overcoming adversity rather than achieving perfection.

Uploaded by

29tsamaha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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There’s a moment that split my life in two — before I heard the word ‘scoliosis’…

and after.I was just a girl who lived to dance. The studio was my second home .
And just like that, the thing I loved most — the thing that made me feel — was at
risk of being taken away. How many of you play a sport or play an instrument? Now
what if someone where do tell you that you would never be able to play this sport
or do that instrument again? What you would’ve felt is what I felt.But then I came
across a quote by Maya Angelou that I held onto like a lifeline:‘You may not
control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by
them.’I was breaking… but I wasn’t broken."

The days that followed were filled with doctor’s appointments, X-rays, and a blur
of unfamiliar words. Brace. Surgery. Risk. And every time I heard them, it felt
like another piece of me was being peeled away. I wanted someone to tell me it was
all a mistake. That I could just go back — to pirouettes, to leaps that made me
feel like I had wings.
But instead, I was told to slow down. To stop. To “be careful.”
And that… shattered me.
There were nights when I’d lie in bed, scrolling through instagram looking at my
friends gettingg roles that I dreamed of gettingg. I didn’t recognize the body I
was in anymore. I didn’t feel strong. I didn’t feel like a dancer. I felt like a
ghost of the girl I used to be.
. I thought of Maya’s words again. I couldn’t control what was happening to my
body… but I could choose to fight. I could choose to *rise.*
So I started showing up. To every appointment. Every physio session. Every hard
conversation. . I danced in the studio , in in my dreams. Not because it was easy,
but because it reminded me I was still here. Still me.
I learned to move *with* my spine instead of against it.
This journey didn’t take dance away from me — it gave it back to me, deeper,
fuller, more *real* than ever.
One key message I want you to take away from my speech is that grace doesn’t come
from perfection — it comes from pain,blood,sweat,tears,countless hours of rehearsal
persistence, from choosing to stand tall even when the world tells you to bend.

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