Shattering start can’t stop dance
A car crash almost took Sophie Renwick’s life before it had really begun.
Aged 16 months, she was in her car seat as her parents pulled out of a suburban Richmond street on their way to visit family friends.
A ute travelling at 100kmh in the 50kmh zone ploughed into the back of their car, shunting it over the kerb and onto its side.
In the front seat, parents Sharon and Paul sustained whiplash-like head injuries. In the back Sophie’s head was also flung forward and back, damaging her C1 and C2 vertebrae.
‘‘She’s a miracle, she should have never survived the accident,’’ Sharon said. ‘‘It was the beginning of a very long journey.’’
At Starship Hospital in Auckland, Sophie was given a halo; a vest with a steel frame attached to it, which in turn was attached to eight steel pins in her head, to keep it immobile.
She had two spinal fusion surgeries amid years of rehabilitation that saw her in and out of the vest until she was given the all clear at six-years-old.
She was told to never do gymnastics, acrobatics or even play on a trampoline because doctors feared she might injure her neck and cause more damage.
Sharon, who danced herself when she was young, thought it would be a good hobby for fouryear-old Sophie, as long as she did not do anything too acrobatic.
‘‘Dancing was her passion, and away she went.’’
Now 18, acrobatic moves are part of Sophie’s daily routine. She jumps and tumbles and dances to many different beats - jazz, ballet, tap, hip-hop - unafraid of anything.
She said she probably should be more cautious than others with her neck, but ‘‘I’m not, because it doesn’t hurt so I don’t even think about it’’.
‘‘There’s nothing that affects me day to day at all, I don’t even think about it, it’s just normal to me.’’
In her early teens she had recurring severe headaches, but now all that gives away her difficult start in life are scars on the side of her forehead and back of her neck from the halo.
Sophie is determined and down to earth; characteristics that have brought her a long way to the cusp of making a career out of her passion.
She trains with dance teacher Okiwi Hawkins from Empire Dance Company for more than 25 hours a week.
She said her dance skills grew exponentially when Okiwi started teaching her five years ago.
‘‘It evolved from there, I realised all the stuff I can actually do, because Kiwi taught me how to do it.’’
Hawkins said he only had a handful of students who would make it to the highest level, and Sophie was one of them.
‘‘She was my first student five years ago, it’s the end of an era. It’s been fun to nurture that and watch her grow.’’
Sophie is having her final performance as part of the Empire Dance Company today at Nelson’s Theatre Royal.
In January, she’ll embark on the next phase of her journey, studying to be a professional dancer in Australia.
She’s been accepted into Patrick Studios in Melbourne on a two year scholarship.
Her ambition was to get a job in the performance industry after graduating from her course.
‘‘Whether that’s in musicals or in shows or back up dancing, just anything.’’