Hello everyone!!! I am so glad I found this community!!! My daughter has been dancing since she was 2 and is now a rising senior. Last week at the end of ballet class, she was doing a leap she had done a hundred times before and her knee gave out. Our worst fears were confirmed on an MRI where she has ruptured her ACL, tore her meniscus, and sprained her MCL and LCL. She needs to have surgery in July and then 7-9 months recovery with no dance. She wanted to major in dance in college and now it looks as if she will miss all audition dates because of her injury. She is absolutely devastated as this has been her dream. Anyone have any advice for us or has been through something like this that can advise us? I have told her that her dream isn’t done. We may have to take a different path, but we will get there. I just don’t know what her options are at this point. Thank you!!!
I am so sorry. That must be devastating for your daughter. One route is to have the surgery and PT and take a gap year. She could use this year to heal and focus on the ACT/SAT and then transition back in to dance late spring. She could then focus on her training and and application process over the summer. She would then start focusing on the application and audition process in the fall. She would want an actual game plan for that gap year that includes training and maybe some type of dance based internship so she is productive over the gap year. It will be hard, but she could come out of this stronger than before the injury.
Good luck with her decision and please let us know how she progresses!