Dancers Always Die Twice

“A dancer dies twice — once when they stop dancing, and this first death is the more painful.” — Martha Graham

As a dancer deep into middle age, I feel this pain keenly. My gray hair whispers my age and my body, thicker in the middle than before, echolocates the world with clicks and pops, navigating space with a little less ease as each decade passes. I know there will be a point when I will no longer be able to perform — and this day have may already happened.