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First, you cry: discovering you need a hip replacement doesn't have to mean the end of a career.

Article Excerpt
I went to college eager to dance. I knew then that my body wasn't built to do what it was asked to do in training--I didn't have sufficient turnout, and my hips were tight, but I pushed myself physically to rise to every challenge. Years after I left SUNY Purchase as a dance major, I danced 10 seasons with Donald Byrd/The Group. Every rehearsal and performance was thrilling, but it was like working out on a technical battleground with no medics and no relief in sight.

One day I was a healthy 39-year-old dancer, the next day I was a crippled 40-year-old. It happened that quickly, and just as dramatically. I left Byrd in 1998 with minor pain in my right hip. I was frustrated by being the lone 40-year-old among a company of 20-somethings, so I thought the pain in my hip was stress-related. After Byrd, I signed a year-long contract with the road company of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Halfway through that year, after having jumped off a three-foot platform eight shows a week, the ache that I thought was stress-related became more serious. At first the pain in my hip inhibited...

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