What I Did For Love

The first time I heard this song, I was ten years old, crouched at the top of our staircase, watching the Johnny Carson Show. It was way past my bedtime but I was (and still am) an insomniac. Falling asleep was never my strong suit, but eavesdropping on late-night television? Natural talent.

The song is from the 1975 musical "A Chorus Line." In the scene, a dancer suffers a career-ending injury, and the remaining dancers are asked: What would you do if you were told tomorrow, you could never dance again?

The dancers answer with courage and optimism. What they did for dance, they did for love. Their talent was theirs "to borrow" - it was temporary and would someday be gone. But the love would live on.

I was reminded of this song, last week watching the 2026 Winter Olympics. American skier, Lindsey Vonn - the first American woman to win Olympic downhill gold in 2010 - chose to compete despite having torn her ACL.

I hoped she would defeat the odds. I wanted one more glorious run, one more gold medal.

Instead, she crashed, fracturing her tibia.

After four surgeries to set her broken leg, and acknowledging the long road of recovery ahead of her, which would most likely end her Olympic career, her message was inspiring. "The ride was worth the fall," she told reporters.

That's someone who found her love, her fire.

For dancers, the ride involves countless hours training the mind and body, making sacrifices, and learning to navigate difficult things with strength, discipline, and resilience.

The reward? The fleeting miracle of creating art with our limbs - muscle and creative energy in perfect harmony. Amazing.

Still, the ratio of preparation to performance is wildly discouraging. Months of rehearsals for minutes onstage. Years of training for a performance career that spans maybe ten years- if you're lucky.

The investment seems ludicrous.

So why do we dance?

Or ski?

Or pursue anything that requires sacrifice, and promises impermanence?

Because the ride - the learning, the growing, the loving - is worth the fall.

Because our experience as dancers makes us stronger, braver, more empathetic. Better humans.

Because what we do for love, matters.

Dancers from the TV adaptation of "A Chorus Line"