Dancer Samantha Figgins Finds Balance... With Hearing Loss

Dance is all about balance: long lines, landing exaggerated pirouettes, and maintaining perfect form from head to toe. Often, that sense of balance, of remaining strong and steady through every turn, starts in the ear. Samantha Figgins knows this all too well. A life-saving surgery during infancy left her with unilateral hearing loss, or deafness in one ear (her right). And while she's still earned a successful dance career — a discipline she took up with her twin sister around four years old — that void was felt at every stage. She couldn't keep up with other dancers. She developed anxiety by, seemingly, not being "enough." And, a majority of her dance-related injuries occurred on the right side of her body — the side where sound, for her, dropped off. Until now. In our latest episode of The Movement, Figgins reveals the life-changing decision that allowed her to hear — and perform — fully, for the very first time.