Having a ball.

I began ballroom dance lessons seven years ago without a body. This lack of a body, as I call it, began at age 2, when a tumor extending the length of my spine was removed. That I survived two surgeries and radiation was a miracle, but five years later I was diagnosed with severe scoliosis. I had a spinal fusion and was in bed for six months. When it was over I re-learned to walk. The doctors were thrilled with my recovery, but I was not allowed to participate in sports. I learned nothing about my physicality--no gym, no roller or ice-skating, no hide-and-seek. Years later, a friend talked me into taking a couple of ballroom dance lessons. Instantly I fell in love with dance. At the outset, I had no idea what my teacher meant when he said, "Follow" or "Feel my lead." How could I? You can't imagine my joy when I realized my torso was not frozen and that I could rotate it from side to side.

These days I dance a graceful waltz and a jazzy fox trot, and my teacher and I are choreographing a Fosse-like routine. I am a writer, a sitting job, and I am writing a memoir about my experience, but I'm never more creative or happier than when I'm dancing. Dance has given me a body and truly healed me.

ELIZABETH SACHS Tuckahoe, NY