Finding Gratitude Beyond an Unfinished Dream

Some dancers leave the studio because they fall out of love with dance. Not Angel.

Like many dancers, Angel began ballet at a young age, starting her formal training with the SJ Ballet School in Hong Kong at age nine. She yearned for the professional stage and dreamed of dancing for the Hong Kong Ballet one day. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when most children were confined to their homes, Angel took a leap forward and auditioned for The Rock School for Dance’s summer intensive program. Her talent and dedication quickly drew attention, earning her a place in the school’s full-year professional program. Angel felt it was an important milestone that marked a new beginning in her ballet career: “Getting accepted to a pre-professional ballet school felt unreal, and my highest hopes were to learn from the professional dancers and teachers from around the world.”

In Philadelphia—a sixteen-hour flight and nine thousand miles away from home—she found countless opportunities. At The Rock, Angel met new friends, learned from dancers and teachers from all over the world, and learned to be independent. For a while, she was living the life she had always imagined.

But worries about a persistent ache quietly began to creep into her mind.

Only a month after arriving at The Rock, she noticed an ache in her left Achilles tendon. At first, the discomfort seemed minor, and she continued training through the pain. Looking back, she realizes that ignoring those early signs was a “very wrong decision that caused the pain to become more and more frequent as time passed.” Gradually, simple movements became unbearable. Angel rested, iced her ankle, and used ibuprofen to manage the discomfort, but temporary relief is not the same as true healing. “If I had to take painkillers daily to get through the pain just so I could take pointe classes, it wouldn’t be good for my health,” she says.

Angel was not the only dancer facing the uncertainty of injury. “I’ve seen people getting stressed and frustrated from their injuries, which I did too, while there were also some students who had a more positive and relaxed attitude towards it,” she says. The Rock School encouraged dancers to seek support from physical therapists before injuries became more serious, but by the time Angel was ready to fully confront the problem, the damage had already accumulated.

“The pain was never fully cured until I had actually quitted dancing for a whole year.”

Eventually, Angel returned to Hong Kong, where doctors finally identified the anatomical reason behind her persistent pain: a bone condition called Haglund’s deformity. She was born with an unusually prominent, bony bump on the back of her heel. While it would have gone unnoticed in everyday life, classical ballet made it an impossible challenge. When she lowered her heels in deep pliés, her tight Achilles tendon was forced to stretch directly over that hard bony bump. When she rose high onto relevé or danced en pointe, the tissue behind her heel became severely pinched and inflamed. Because her own bone structure was the root cause, the painful swelling was guaranteed to return every single time she danced. Facing this physical reality forced Angel to make one of the most difficult decisions of her life: she chose to walk away from the dream she had spent years pursuing, even if her heart wasn't quite ready to let go of that dream.

"I only gave up on my dream because I knew that my left foot was going to get worse if I kept dancing that way, so I made the decision before my heart could accept it." Healing, she explains, wasn’t about making a single brave decision; it was about learning to live with a choice she was not yet emotionally ready to make.

The transition back to everyday life proved just as challenging as the injury itself. After years of structuring her daily life around ballet, returning to regular school meant rediscovering an identity beyond the studio. For a while, she struggled to let go of her deep nostalgia for dance.

Over time, however, she learned that moving forward did not mean leaving the past behind. Instead, it meant embracing it. “Having a positive attitude helped,” she explains. “I realized that being a former dancer is something fortunate that I can be proud of, rather than something that should make me sad whenever I think about it.”

Today, Angel hopes that other dancers can learn from her journey—lessons that extend far beyond the studio itself. Above all, she wants dancers to understand that slowing down is not a failure, especially when their bodies are asking them to rest.

“Patience is very crucial,” she says.

For dancers accustomed to pushing through discomfort, Angel emphasizes that healing is not a sign of weakness, but an essential part of protecting both their health and their future. “Pretending to be fine and pushing through the pain is not going to help. If you’re not sure what to do about your injury, it is important to see a physical therapist or a doctor before it’s too late.”

At the same time, Angel does not look back on her journey with regret or wish she had chosen a different path. “If I had known earlier about my Achilles condition, I might not have invested myself in ballet as much, and I wouldn’t have tried to get into a pre-professional ballet school or experienced all the amazing things that came with it,” she says. “Even though I’m no longer a dancer, the experiences I had at The Rock School were totally worth it.”

Understanding both the importance of self-protection and the value of taking a leap of faith for something you love is crucial. Pursuing a dream always comes with uncertainty, and sometimes the risks do not lead to the ending we imagined. But that does not mean the journey was a mistake. The experiences gained, the person you become, and the moments that otherwise would never have existed make it entirely worthwhile.

Beyond her own experience, Angel offers encouragement to dancers who might feel disconnected from the joy they once found in ballet: “If you’re feeling like you might have lost your passion for ballet, don’t worry, you’re not alone. There might be a chance that you’re putting too much pressure on yourself, and when we’re trying too hard to be perfect, sometimes we forget to enjoy dancing. When you start to relax a bit, you may find your passion again.”

For those who are still chasing the same dream she once did, Angel’s message remains filled with determination: “Don’t be afraid to go for it. You’re capable of more than you think. It’s very normal to feel frustrated or face difficulties throughout the journey, but remember to trust the process and never doubt yourself.”

Ballet gave Angel unforgettable experiences, lifelong friendships, discipline, and a deeper understanding of herself. Although her time on stage ended earlier than she had envisioned, she does not see it as a loss. Instead, she carries those years with gratitude, knowing that a dream’s value is determined not by how long it lasts, but by what it gives you while you are living it.