Karis Pendleton

Hey everyone,

I hope you all are doing well and had a great September! Before I get into my September update, I just want to take a moment to say thank you to all of you who were able to attend my zoom meeting in august. I had such a great time connecting with you all and informing you about all that I’ve been up to recently. Also, to everyone that was unable to make the meeting, I completely understand and there are no hard feelings and I’m grateful for your support.

Life has been crazy recently. As some of you may know, I have been experiencing extreme hip pain for the last 6 months. My right hip had always felt kinda weird but recently it had been really bad. This summer, I had a doctors appointment and got some x-rays done. By the grace of God my bones are healthy and everything looks good. The doctor said I most likely am dealing with a lot of inflammation and prescribed me some anti inflammatories and told me to come back if that didn’t help the pain. Well needless to say, the anti inflammatories did not help and if anything the pain got increasingly worse. During this time, I had days where I would limp to walk and have pain doing basic things but I did not really tell my parents or teachers while it was occurring because I still wanted to dance and I knew they’d tell me to sit down. At a certain point the pain did become unbearable and I started having to modify classes, or just sit out. My parents and I ended up scheduling for me to get an MRI so we could really get under the hood and have a better understanding of what’s going on. We scheduled the MRI sometime in August but were not able for me to get seen until mid September. Since I’m so stubborn when it comes to my craft, I refused to take time off until I had an exact diagnosis about what is going on with me. So September 18th 2025, I had my MRI and we found out I had a slight labral tear, a hip impingement, and a ton of inflammation within my right hip. When I found out this information I was heart broken. I had plans to audition for ballet schools in EU. This year was supposed to be my year and now this happens?! I remember tears just falling out of my face and just ignoring anything my parents were saying. My parents were being so sweet trying to console me etc, and I just did not want to hear it. I was sad and extremely embarrassed ( and still am at times.), I felt like this had a negative reflection on my work ethic and maybe I’m just doing everything wrong. Also, at my ballet school right now I’m in the level right below the highest level and out of 5 pre-professional training dancers of color I’m the highest training one. I take so much pride in that because I want to be a role model for those below me and I just want to inspire them and encourage greatness whenever I get the opportunity to.

The day I found out I had a tear and will most likely be taking a good amount of time off of dance was one of the hardest days ever. I remember my dad was dropping me off at ballet that day so he came in with me to make sure I was good. I sat out of classes for about a week or two before I could get an appointment with my doctor for him to tell us what he understands from the results of the MRI. Though my mental has not been great during this time it was probably the most rough during the first two weeks. I was struggling because all I could do was imagine that I’d be getting surgery and out for the whole season because at this point since we hadn’t talked to my doctor we didn’t have a timeline for my recovery, it was all speculation. I finally got an appointment with my doc and he confirmed the tear and inflammation and also suggested talking to a surgeon. The following day I went with my dad to talk to a surgeon and the surgeon looked perplexed. In a lot of words he pretty much was like I don’t understand why you’re here. He said due to how slight my tear is I shouldn’t be having this much pain. So he did a few hip mobility tests on me and I passed like all of them except 1 or 2. He said he doesn’t think I need surgery and that it’s more of an inflammatory thing so he recommended I go talk to his colleague who works with dancers and high performing athletes like me who have dealt with labral tears. I saw is colleague and he pretty much said the same thing the other doctor said. As I was talking to this doctor he asked me like what my schedule is and like when do I get time off and I was like never lol. I told him, my ballet school gives us breaks and we also only dance 6 days a week and have a short day in the middle of the week but I never take the breaks. On Sundays I like to go to the gym for three hours and then when I get like week long breaks I come home and train with my mentor. As I was telling him this I realized I have not had a break from ballet in a VERY LONG TIME. This summer I grew and learned a lot but I think in total I only had two weeks off from dance. Now that the doc had this new information he said that he feels like the pain I’m getting is truly from over use and said I need to take 3-6 weeks off from ballet. He said if by December I still feel awful come see him and we’ll talk again, but he seemed pretty confident that was the issue. After that appointment I still felt sad and extremely anxious about everything but I was so excited I don’t need surgery. I literally called my mentor to tell her the good news before I told anyone else that was aware of what was going on.

The next three weeks were probably some of the hardest weeks of my life. We had a world renowned choreographer come to my ballet school and create a new piece on us. My name was on the cast list of dancers to attend but of course I couldn’t attend. This time was also hard because I felt useless; watching my peers just made feel helpless because in my mind I’m like there out on the floor getting better while I’m over here sitting on the floor being un productive. I could write about all the negatives with this situation but there were plenty of positives as well… I had more time for school, I got to enjoy being a teenager a little more, I learned a lot from just observing ballet classes, and I got to help teach little upcoming ballet dancers. All of this brought so much joy to my heart in a time of sorrow and angst. Also I just thank God for my teachers and director. They were so supportive through all of this and just showed me so much love. My director said I know you’re dealing with inflammation and an impingement but I feel like you could really benefit from getting seen by a chiropractor. With some convincing, my parents set me up for an appointment with the chiropractor. My appointment was the best thing ever!! He said my ilium ( I think they’re bones connected to my hips) were extremely twisted which made my alignment off which caused other bones to kind of rub against my hip; hence the tear and impingement. I felt great after just one appointment! I feel so much more lifted in my body and like I’m able to function better all together. Since I started seeing him, I have gotten back into ballet. I think I’ve officially been back for 2.5 weeks now. In another blog post I will go into more detail about how it’s been getting back in shape but for now I’ll just tell you that I’m so happy to be back on the floor!!

As I’m still recovering from the injury I’m going extremely slow in my classes, getting extra privates in with my teachers and just really taking my time. I’ve stopped doing my gym day Sundays and instead have just been going on evening walks. Also instead of doing all 3 or 4 of my ballet classes everyday I’ve been doing 1 or 2. I have to go slow because I don’t want to re injure myself. God has been so faithful during this time. Nutcracker rehearsals just started which is an extremely exciting time of year but this year it has been challenging because I don’t even know if I’ll be fully dancing by the time Nutcracker comes around; and honestly I’m ok with that. I’d rather have longevity in my career than hurt myself for a show. Anyways, my director has been still adding me to Nutcracker rehearsals because if I am able to perform he wants to be able to give me that opportunity. So I’m here thinking I’m only going to be learning corps de ballet parts ( which is fine with me, I’m grateful for whatever opportunity I get to let my light shine), but then my director calls me to a rehearsal for the LEAD ROLE for this dance in the nutcracker called hot chocolate. To get to learn a principal role in the nutcracker is one thing, but to learn a principal role and still be recovering from an injury is another!!! I’ve literally been on cloud 9 since all of that information.

Overall, the last month or so has been extremely difficult for me mentally and emotionally. I have been experiencing a great amount of anxiety. Though I don’t prefer to be in this season I’m in I’m grateful for this season. This season has taught me and continues to teach me how I need to stop worrying and put all my trust in God because he’s got me. I started trying to makes things happen ( Ex. going to EU) on my own will instead of Gods will. This is extremely hard for me to do, because at times I like to be in control. But this season just continues to remind me God is in control and I just need to remain faithful towards him. This season continues to remind me what God has for me is for me. Karis goes to Paris 2026, will not be happening; but something my parents continue to tell me is that delayed is not denied. Maybe it’s not Gods will for me to officially move to EU in 2026 but it does not mean that it won’t happen further down the road. I honestly, miss my family a lot and it’s nice to know I will be moving across the pond yet.

Lastly, I just want to take a moment to than everyone for their support through this time. I really appreciate all of your prayers and encouragement.❤️ Also below I posted a few pics from life recently! I’ll definitly make sure to give you more of an update about my life aside from dance in a later blog post.

Warmly,

Karis P 💕