Caitlin Stawaruk is a dancer with Zuric ballet and scholarship winner of the prestigious dance competition: Prix de Lausanne. She tells her story

‘I have been living in Zurich for six years and dancing with the company for four when I injured my left foot on stage performing in Giselle. I tried managing the injury conservatively for a while but eventually I couldn't handle the pain anymore and stopped dancing.

Just before I was about to give up and return to Australia to start on a fresh path, I found a surgeon who was willing to operate on my foot so I could hopefully return to dance. I am now in the process of recovering. I came back to Australia for 2 months to do some rehab with Oli at STC and start back with some ballet classes with Kim Harvey.

This process has certainly not been easy for me but there has been an upside; during these couple of months Oli has taught me so much about my body and the biomechanics of it. I have addressed weaknesses that I never really paid attention to and found there are many things to work on and strengthen within the entire body in order for my foot to recover well.
I have learnt a lot about myself mentally mostly putting patience to practice. Some days it all seems too difficult and I'm 97% sure I just want to quit. It's that 3% which keeps me going to get through to the next day when I know I will want to continue dancing. I have in my head "it's not over till it's over" if there is even the smallest amount of drive and energy in me I will keep going till I'm back on stage.

Having a physio who specialises in dance is extremely important. I am really thankful for all the help and support from Oli and the rest of the STC staff for always being so friendly’