Vanessa Gilbert doesn’t remember a time when she didn’t dance. Having grown up in Ireland where her passion for dance began, much of her young life was spent dancing; leaping around the beach as her first stage.

Vanessa went on to study professionally (RAD, RBS and with Maria Fay) and was thrilled when she was invited to join the Munich Ballet. Sadly, an injury here began a lifetime’s battle with spinal problems that eventually halted her dance career and by 2002 had left her virtually unable to move at all. “In my heart I never stopped dancing”, said Vanessa, who would lie in her bed and lose herself in music and dance freely in her imagination, “daydreams like this helped keep me sane and free me temporarily from the pain-prison I was living in”.

One day, after an imaginary dance around the garden, she made a “crazy promise to life” that if she was ever well enough to dance again she would dance around the world raising money for spinal care and give others hope that they too could recover. This promise was the start of DanceBack. The journey to recovery is too long for this article but in May 2007, Vanessa found herself dancing in a street festival in Riga and remembered the promise she made.

DanceBack is a charity that raises money for spinal care through dance events. They support and encourage people with acute and chronic back problems giving them hope and encouragement as well as practical help. Turning an impulse promise into a fully fledged charity is no easy feat, explaining how this happened Vanessa said: “a lot of people thought I was crazy so I needed to work out what I was going to do, who I was going to help and how. I decided to help people whose lives had been halted, restricted or couldn’t work because of back problems.”

“Drawing on my own experience I knew that funding for treatment had to be a priority. The NHS does a wonderful job, but many powerful treatments like osteopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture and, of course, Pilates are not generally available. Where it is available, it is usually limited to six treatments per person per year. At this stage many are just beginning to heal when the treatment stops. Where dancers and sportspeople are concerned their treatment and rehab needs can be very specific and as such they need health professionals that understand those needs. So this also became an important priority.”

“I then realised I had no experience in running let alone creating a charity, I am a dancer and I didn’t know where to start with this challenge. Therefore, I gathered a great team of people around me who have experience in running successful charities and businesses; these are now my Trustees. They bring very different qualities from mine to DanceBack and help keep my feet on the ground!”

Slowly, Vanessa and her team began to build some substance around her dream, which resulted in DanceBack becoming a fully functioning charity. They are still busy gathering funds and hope to be in a position to start funding treatment for people by next autumn.

With the foundations of the charity laid and treatment for those in need on the horizon, Vanessa turns to how exactly the charity works for those who need it, saying: “Someone will approach us and we will firstly assess their application. They will have to prove that they really cannot afford to pay for treatment themselves. They will then be seen by one or two of our panel of health professionals to determine what their needs are. If they need rehabilitation then a course with a Pilates instructor or physiotherapist might be suitable, if their injuries are still acute then they would see a doctor, osteopath or chiropractor; whatever is appropriate for them. After an initial course of treatment they will be reassessed and if they need further help we will provide it for them. After that, hopefully people will be better enough to go away and do lots of fundraising for us!”

“Having the right treatment at the right time can make the difference to an injury being permanently healed or a permanent problem. It is my dream that no one has to loose their career or job because they can’t afford the right care at the right time.”

Vanessa is someone with huge passion and vision who is driven by a desire to fulfil a promise made during desperate days. She says: “A promise is a promise.” However, in order for DanceBack to fulfill it’s true potential it needs people to get on board and get involved. Vanessa explains: “I want to have as many schools and dance organisations involved in running events as possible. This can be anything from a bucket collection to a dance-a-thon or a disco, any event that has an element of dance is welcome.”

“We plan to stage professional galas and hope that, in time, dancers and people that we have helped recover from injury and return to their work and passion will take part. That is my vision.”

Ela Drewett

For further information, please email Vanessa Gilbert on vanessa@danceback.org.uk or visit www.danceback.org.uk.