My career in ballet is probably one that echoes many others. I started dancing around the age of 8, and was recognised by my teacher at the time as having potential to progress further. At the age of 11, I moved from Swansea to London, after receiving a place to live and train full time at The Royal Ballet School. This was an intense introduction into the ballet world to say the least; a pressure cooker environment that suited some and not others. At the time, there was a focus on hard training of the ballet skill, with less concern over the holistic development of the student. After 8 years of training I joined Birmingham Royal Ballet and danced professionally with the company for 7 years, touring nationally and internationally for most months of the year (sometimes for several months at a time). In 2017, I moved to The Royal Ballet, where I now dance as a Principal of the company. This means I perform the main or title roles in up to 13 productions each season. My injury history had been sprinkled with minor ankle issues and growth-related problems, but in April 2019 I underwent microdiscectomy surgery on my L5-S1 level in my spine. After a herniated disc injury 3 years prior, I had been managing ongoing back pain, and after what I initially thought was a minor hamstring tear, it quickly became apparent it was much more serious and now restricting the sciatic nerve …

中文翻译：

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脑身舞蹈：解决损伤康复期间的心理健康问题


我的芭蕾舞生涯可能与其他许多人的职业生涯相似。我8岁左右开始跳舞，当时的老师认为我有进一步进步的潜力。 11 岁时，我在皇家芭蕾舞学校找到了居住和全职训练的地方，然后从斯旺西搬到了伦敦。至少可以说，这是对芭蕾舞世界的深入介绍。适合某些人但不适合其他人的高压锅环境。当时，人们注重芭蕾舞技巧的艰苦训练，较少关注学生的全面发展。经过 8 年的训练后，我加入了伯明翰皇家芭蕾舞团，并在该团专业舞蹈了 7 年，一年中的大部分时间都在国内和国际上巡回演出（有时一次持续几个月）。 2017 年，我搬到皇家芭蕾舞团，现在担任该团的舞蹈首席。这意味着我每季最多在 13 部作品中担任主要或主角角色。我的受伤史中曾出现过一些轻微的脚踝问题和与生长相关的问题，但在 2019 年 4 月，我在脊柱的 L5-S1 水平上接受了显微椎间盘切除术。三年前椎间盘突出受伤后，我一直在处理持续的背痛，在我最初以为是轻微的腿筋撕裂后，很快就发现情况更加严重，现在限制了坐骨神经……