#How Did You Do It? — Episode №1

Every ending is the first day of the rest of your life

Lauren Russo Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre · Connecticut

Years Dancing: 27 years

Injury: Right hip injury (likely torn hip flexor or labral tear)

Fun Fact: Paints during recovery — canvas as backup stage Go-to Snack: Dried mango

Best Advice: Know your body. Do the upkeep. Trust that it’s working — even when you can’t feel it yet.

She Tried to Manage It on Her Own for Months. Then Her Other Hip Started Going Too.

Lauren Russo didn’t injure her hip in a grand jeté. She injured it on a morning run — and spent months trying to avoid seeking professional help or taking the break that her body needed. Here’s what finally broke, and what she built in its place.

For months, Lauren Russo told herself it wasn’t that bad. The pain came and went. She kept dancing, kept training, kept doing what 25 years of dance had trained her to do in the face of discomfort: push through and hope it resolves.

It didn’t resolve. It spread. Eventually it became impossible to manage alone, and it started to pull her left hip into dysfunction too. Her body had been sending signals — sharper than soreness, more nagging, distinctly different — and she had been fluent enough in the language of pain to recognize them. She just wasn’t ready to step away from her commitments or seek professional help.

That moment — when you can no longer do it alone — is where this story really begins.

The One Lesson From This Story

Your body speaks in two languages. Learn to tell them apart.

Lauren draws a clear line between muscle soreness and injury pain: soreness fades, fluctuates, feels like effort. Injury pain is sharper, more nagging, and sits in the body differently.

After years of being praised for pushing through, learning to hear that difference — and act on it — was the real turning point. Not the recovery. Not the comeback. The moment she finally listened.

The Breaking Point

Dancers are trained from childhood to override discomfort. The culture rewards it — the ones who push through are admired, the ones who stop are quietly doubted. Lauren knew this, lived it, and was caught in it like everyone else. The injury didn’t announce itself dramatically. It crept in through an ordinary morning run, disguised as something manageable.

When did you know something was actually wrong?

“I didn’t realize I had injured my hip until several hours later. It happened as I was running in the morning and it wasn’t until later that night that I had pain when walking. It seemed to come and go for months — until it was impossible to manage alone and even affected my left hip flexor.”

By the time she stopped, the damage had already doubled. That’s the cost of waiting — and it’s a cost most injured dancers know intimately.

The Rebuild

Physical therapy went better than she expected — and longer. The pain faded before the strength returned, and that gap became its own challenge. Scar tissue was her final opponent: a stubborn, nagging ache that outlasted the original injury. She worked on it every day. Deliberately. Consistently. It worked.

What were the hardest days like?

“It was hard towards the end. My pain was mostly gone but my hips were nowhere near as strong as they used to be and I still had pain from scar tissue. I was worried that I would always have that pain — but I really focused on breaking up the scar tissue every day. It worked. I don’t have that same pain today.”

When she finally danced again, nothing was automatic. She had to consciously think through movements that had been instinctive for decades — where to engage, how much core to activate, how to lift without bracing in the wrong place. Rebuilding wasn’t just physical. It was a complete relearning of how to inhabit her own body.

What did it feel like the first time you danced again?

“I was worried. I had to think a lot about how I was moving. Where I was engaging. Always activating my core as much as possible when lifting my leg — which was difficult because I wasn’t as strong as I used to be.”

The Signature Question

What did the injury teach you about your body?

“I felt fragile and old for a time — because I spent so many years of my career without a major injury. Now I feel confident that I can do whatever I want, as long as I do the necessary upkeep and address injuries quickly when they arise. I know my weaknesses now. That’s more powerful than not having any.”

— Lauren Russo

The New Chapter

Lauren came back differently. Not worse — differently. She returned with a maintenance practice she doesn’t negotiate with: hip, core, glute, every few days, no exceptions. She returned with gratitude for performing that feels specific and earned, not generic. And she returned with something she didn’t have before — a precise map of her body’s vulnerabilities.

How has your definition of strength changed?

“Strength is a daily practice. You have to work on it every day or every few days to grow it and maintain it. I feel like I value that more the older I get. It’s easier to get away with things when you’re younger and your body repairs itself faster.”

There’s one thing she wants every dancer mid-recovery to hear — something nobody talks about enough. It’s not the surgery, and it’s not the rehab. It’s the reentry: the window after clearance when you’re technically allowed to dance again but not yet strong enough to do it safely. That transition, she says, is where the real work happens — and where the real vigilance begins.

She has been dancing for 27 years. She knows exactly what her body needs now. She does the upkeep.

She is not done.

Lauren’s Quick Picks

Recovery Method: Foam rolling

Foot Exercise: Doming

Go-to Snack: Dried mango