Dance festivals are sacred places. They bring dancers together from all over, they reconnect local dance communities, and they bring in instructors that would otherwise be challenging to study with. As a professional opportunity, they are invaluable sources of networking and professional development—photo shoots, performance recordings, costume shopping. They’re important to all levels of dancers, both emerging and established. All that to say, we all need and deserve to enjoy belly dance festivals.

In my last blog about my back pain, I gave the full run-down on what I went through to get diagnosed and treated. You can refresh on that here. I had just had my first rhizotomy and was enjoying the freedom of movement I gained from it, thinking my problems were solved for the foreseeable future.

Well, a few months ago when I had my first medial branch block in my lumbar spine to treat my facet joint arthritis, I promised a longer, more thoughtful post about it at a later date.

I’ve just had my second rhizotomy. So, here’s that update I promised.

You might be wondering, what happened? Why do I, a twenty-something, have lumbar arthritis?