I started dancing when I was four years old, and I knew immediately that I wanted to be a professional dancer someday. Throughout my childhood, I was training heavily in ballet, working my way up to corps member in the dance company I was with. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with scoliosis at age 11, and my whole world changed. What started as a subtle, 19 degree curve, had quickly progressed into a 68 degree curve in a matter of months. The doctors quickly changed their tune from “let’s wait and see what happens” to “we need to operate immediately”. I felt that my entire future as a dancer was crumbling before me. I didn’t want to have surgery at that age, so I found a new brace (at the time) called the SpineCor brace, created by Dr. Deutchmann. It was a series of soft straps that were flexible and still allowed me to dance and move. I wore this brace for the duration of high school and early college, in addition to doing Schroth exercises.

I continued my dance training and eventually discovered a deep love for musical theater, which lead me to pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre at Brenau University. I landed the lead dance role in our fall musical Oklahoma!, and while I was able to perform the 14 minute ballet sequence the show required, it took a huge toll on my body. I decided after the run that it was time to have surgery. My curve had progressed to 73 degrees by this point. I was absolutely terrified of what my life was going to be like on the other side of the surgery. I had no one to look to for guidance, and I didn’t know anyone else with scoliosis, let alone anyone who had gotten a spinal fusion.

In May of 2015, at 21 years old, I had 24 screws and 2 titanium rods placed in my spine. I grew 2 inches, and now stood at a lofty 5’10. My first question after surgery was “how tall am I?” because I wanted nothing more than to be a Radio City Rockette (their height limit is 5’10.5). Thankfully I still met the requirements, and I was cleared to start moving and dancing again at 6 months post-op. One month after that, in December 2015, I was back onstage and training in dance class again.

In 2016, I spent the rest of the year getting back in shape and finishing my degree, and within 2 months of graduation I moved to NYC to chase my dreams of being a professional performer. I was able to train in the Rockette Summer Intensive and audition at Radio City in 2017 and 2018. While I didn’t make the cut, as of now, I have been incredibly fortunate to dance for Cher in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, walk in New York Fashion Week, appear in Sophisticated Weddings Magazine, and film a testimonial commercial for Tempurpedic Mattresses discussing the impact of their products on my post-spinal fusion recovery and career as a dancer. I currently perform year round as a showgirl and stilt walker with Black Haus Creative, a company that creates immersive entertainment experiences for luxury events all over New York.

I started sharing my story on Instagram in 2018, and I was so fortunate to discover a community of women (and men!) who are just like me. I have received messages from people all over the world sharing their journeys with me, and I’ve been able to meet many spinal fusion warriors in person! Building these relationships and community has inspired me to start The Bionic Project so that no one has to go through this diagnosis alone.