Dancing Despite It All

Corrinna | Oct 25, 2009 | 0

1982, Corrinna After surgery

Dancing has always been a part of my life. I started dancing at the age of two and a half mainly as a means of necessity. My mom was teaching dance, my dad worked full time and day care was not an option. My brother who was eleven months older than me was old enough to take class. I decided if he could do it, so could I. My mom was thrilled it was one less hour we would be sitting at the end of her classroom messing around while she was trying to teach. From that point on it was in my blood. Dance was all I did aside from school and it was all I wanted to do. The trouble began when I was eleven years old, but it doesn't stop there.. Most people find my story simply unbelievable. I swear it is the truth and I have all the scars to prove it.

I was eleven years old when I began to experience increasing pain on the inside of both feet. It got to the point I could barely make it thru a ballet barre without tears rolling down my face. After months of my parents insisting that it was my new shoes, the shoes were no longer new so they took me to the doctor. After x-rays and an examination we were told that I had excess navicular. I know, what on earth is that? ? I had an extra bone in both feet. That in it self would not be a problem however, there was also a tendon running over the top of it. That tendon was being rubbed to the point of tearing every time I danced. To me a person with a life history of knocking out my teeth and getting my ears stuck in doors, this was not a surprise. Nevertheless, my mom started to cry. Apparently, it came as quite a shock that there was actually something wrong with me. The prognosis was to wear special shoes and stop dancing or have surgery on both feet. I did what any aspiring dancer would do. I had surgery. I had casts on both legs up to my knees and walked with crutches. My brother got great comedic joy out of telling people "the parachute broke." A couple weeks went by and I started to feel bubbles around my feet and ankles. Everyone though I was crazy. You would think after the whole "it's your new shoes" incident someone would've listened. Anyway, after five weeks it was finally time to get my casts off. As it turned out those bubbles where third degree burns all over my legs and feet. We discovered that I was allergic to adhesive. Low and behold both my feet were wrapped in it for five weeks inside my casts. It all turned out ok, after three days of being carried everywhere, I learned to walk again and danced two months later.

After my surgery I was great for years. I had no pain and no injuries. 1997 brought a change in my stream of luck and incident free life.

I don't want to bore you with the medical jargon and to be honest I probably couldn't even spell most of the things that went wrong with my body. Suffice it to say the last eleven years of my dance career were riddled with more injuries and operations than most people will have in their entire lives. Not just the expected things like infected blisters and broken toes, (though I did have my fair share of both,) ,) but weird stuff. Prepare yourself, this could take a while.

In my right foot I had four torn tendons, one of which was torn vertically on the backside of the tendon. Apparently that is so rare my doctor wrote a medical paper about it. It took two years and four visits to the operating table to solve all the problems.

I somehow developed a Noroma on the bottom of my right foot. (A cluster of nerves that are damaged and cause pain and tingling in the toes.) After having that repaired it swelled up into what looked like a blood blister the size of a quarter on the bottom of my foot. It felt like I was walking on a rock, and of course it had to be removed. There was no indication why that happened, just my luck.

After executing a jump split and wrenching my ankle when the heel of my shoe got caught in a popped seem of the floor, I had some more issues. After completing nearly sixty shows, I finally paid a visit to the doctor.  I had several torn ligaments and some increasing joint problems. I had two pins put in my big toe and one in my little toe, apparently just to hold my busted up foot together. A few years later after one of the pins poked through my skin it had to be removed.

I rolled my left ankle during a show (of course I finished the show, it is me we are talking about.) After several weeks and many visits to the local Detroit hospital, I went home to Chicago and saw my doctor. The partially torn tendon showed up on an ultrasound, but after twenty-one days of rest and unsurpassed pain, more problems were suspected. A bone scan was performed and a bone edema was located, (when the bone bruises and fills with fluid.) That put me out of commission for eight months.

Then I moved up to my left knee. I remember the day of the injury, you know when you knee moves but your foot sticks to the ground? Yeah, that was a good day. It didn't help it was three years before I decided to do anything about it, (I do not recommend this course of action.) When I finally got an MRI, I ended up with torn meniscus, torn cartilage and another bone edema. I had never even heard that word before and suddenly it was part of my every day conversations. I had surgery and a week later my knee was bruised so badly, it was literally black. Months of therapy helped me on the road back to dancing, and I also made a great friend in my therapist.

I also managed to dislocate my collarbone at the joint. You can see this injury, just by looking at me. It protrudes out at the inner part of the joint, rather than in. If it were the later I would probably be talking to a cardiologist. It does snap every time I move my right arm, which is a bit disturbing, but pinning it is far too risky.

Last, but certainly not least. I have a herniated disk in my lower back, which was great when I was lugging around my two children as babies. I still have back pain, but it is manageable with the help of my chiropractor.

In my twenty plus years of performing I have racked up fourteen surgeries. Regardless, I still love to dance.  I don't regret any of my choices, except waiting too long to get medical help. Even with all the pain I incur on a daily basis I found it hard to quit performing. A lot of people encouraged me to stop the madness and retire. I can't say that I could ever completely close the door on that portion of my life.

One benefit from all of my injuries is that I am a virtual medical consultant for my students. There is rarely a problem that they come to me with that I have not had myself. I do try to encourage them to do what I say, not what they have seen me do. Despite all that I have been through, I keep on keepin' on and continue to support the Bio freeze and Advil industries.

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Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Tap, Modern, Broadway, Ballroom, Teacher, Enthusiast, Parent, Studio, Competitions & Conventions, Performance, Summer Study (all tags)