Jewish Ballet Dancer Defeated Potential Career-Ending Injury

Isaac Akiba was onstage, dancing, turning, and jumping to the tune of the Russian Dance from Tchaikovsky's “The Nutcracker.” Akiba, a longtime ballet dancer in the Boston Ballet, had performed this piece many times. But on this night, he wasn’t going to get through it.

During the song, he suddenly felt a jolt of intense pain in his knee.

“I hobbled offstage, dove into the wings and clutched my knee,” he said. “I was in a tremendous amount of pain.”

Isaac Akiba and Lawrence Rines in Mikko Nissinen's The Nutcracker; photo by Liza Voll

The next day, Akiba got an MRI and found out he’d torn his ACL, a ligament in his knee.

“The doctors weren’t sure if I’d be able to dance again,” he said.

Akiba was in agony. Not only was he experiencing physical pain, but he was also experiencing mental anguish. Would he have to give up his dance career with one of the best companies in the world? It was something he’d worked so hard to achieve. And, he was already in a vulnerable place.

“My dad had died and I was just starting to feel better after the grieving period,” he said. “Then boom, this happened.”

This was in the fall of 2019. While Akiba was struggling with his intense injury, he had no idea what was in store for him over the next two years, and how it would change his life’s trajectory.

Starting Out in the Ballet

Akiba, who grew up Reform and attended Hebrew and Sunday school, had been recruited for the Boston Ballet when he was 9 years old. The company ran an outreach program called Citydance, where thousands of third grade students from Boston public schools would be given free ballet classes. Akiba was picked to be part of the program.

“They bussed us in from school to the Boston Ballet headquarters once a week for 10 weeks to take ballet classes,” he said. “After that, I got into the first level of the Boston Ballet school.”

Prior to this, Akiba hadn’t danced at all. But he had heard the stereotypes about ballet: it’s for girls. You wear a tutu. You twirl.

But once he got into the program, he saw that it wasn’t like that at all. There was a mix of boys and girls. They didn’t always wear tutus. And the dance moves were incredibly meaningful to him.

“It fit my personality,” he said. “I liked to focus on details. I was more quiet but also athletic. When you’re in a ballet studio and learning the fundamentals, you have to concentrate.”

Akiba would go to the program three days a week up until he was 12 years old. Then, he progressed to four and eventually six days a week. When he was 16 years old, he dropped out of high school because his class schedule was interfering with ballet. And at 18, he was hired to be part of the Boston Ballet full-time.

photo by Liza Voll

His schedule was intense: he’d have a classical ballet technique class every morning, rehearse for three hours, take a three-hour break, and then rehearse again for three hours. The company put on six different productions each year, including “The Nutcracker,” one of the biggest shows of the season.

Though Akiba loved what he was doing, it was draining.

“There’s the mental stress of having to be your best every single day,” he said. “That’s what’s expected from the staff, but also from yourself. As a ballet dancer, you have to hold yourself at a very high level to reach a high level. But of course, your body won’t agree with you and want to do that every day. There’s this tension of wanting to work at this exceptionally high level but then also being unable to do that most of the time.”

In 2019, when Akiba got the ACL injury, he was 30 years old – just a few years away from 36, around the age when most ballet dancers retire.

“Some people leave earlier because they don’t want to do it anymore because of pressure or an injury they can’t come back from,” he said.

Akiba never expected to be one of those people. But after his injury, he wasn’t sure what his future was going to look like. Would he be able to keep doing what he loved?

On the Mend

Four months after his injury, COVID hit and the Boston Ballet was shut down indefinitely. No one was performing.

Akiba had gone into surgery right before the lockdown. He then went on paid worker’s compensation. Alone, in his apartment, he worked with a physical therapist virtually and learned how to stand on one leg and walk again.

At the same time, the dancer was turning to his faith for strength.

“During the mourning process for my dad, I became more religious,” he said. “I began to have more awareness of God as these events unfolded.”

There were a number of challenges that popped up; at one point, the doctors saw that Akiba’s tendon wasn’t healing properly and he couldn’t do his strength training. He had to undergo a special procedure called Extracorporeal Pulse Activation Technology (EPAT), a painful form of shockwave therapy.

“They damage the tendon in order for it to heal,” he said. “That was a huge setback.”

Issac Akiba in Mikko Nissinen's The Nutcracker; photo by Liza Voll

Still, the pain, the obstacles, and the turmoil from being out of work and dealing with COVID weren’t going to stop Akiba from pushing through.

“I took it day by day,” he said. “I accepted the challenges and did what I could in the moment,” he said. “I was present, and I didn’t think too much about the end goal. I made small goals along the way.”

Once COVID’s spread started to slow, the Boston Ballet reopened. Performances were back on. And Akiba got some good news: he’d be able to join his company again.

Returning to the Stage

In November of 2021, Akiba was back on stage, performing the Russian dance in “The Nutcracker.”

His family and friends were in the audience to cheer him on. His company was there for support. All Akiba had to do was nail his moves. If he could, he’d conquer the dance number that had taken him out two years prior.

“I wanted to set a high goal to myself and do something no one has ever done before,” he said. “It was a very monumental performance.”

Akiba flew through the air while the orchestra below him was banging their drums to the upbeat, fast-paced song. He concentrated while he jumped and twirled and danced, making sure to land properly so he wouldn’t hurt himself again.

“It was this really thrilling experience,” he said.

Isaac Akiba; photo by Liza Voll

At the end of the piece, Akiba realized he’d done it: he perfectly executed the difficult moves without injuring himself. His family and friends enthusiastically cheered for him and rooted him on.

“It was this very beautiful moment,” he said.

Looking back on the entire experience, Akiba says he recognizes the hand of God that was protecting him.

He got injured right before COVID and only missed one production.

He got surgery right before they stopped doing surgeries.

He got worker’s comp when other ballet dancers were facing financial insecurity.

And somehow, even though he’d mostly done PT alone in his apartment, he’d gotten better and had an epic return to the stage.

“When the injury occurred, I was like, why is this happening to me?” he said. “Now, I see all the blessings and what I learned from the whole experience. I have such gratitude for God and for all these blessings I have in my life.”

#I want to learn more and be more spiritual and bring it into my everyday life.

Akiba danced with the company for another year and a half, and ended his career at the beginning of June. Now, inspired by the miracles he experienced with his recovery, he’s going to Israel to study at a yeshiva for three weeks.

“I want to learn more and be more spiritual and bring it into my everyday life,” he said.

While at yeshiva, Akiba will also be teaching the Israel Ballet in Tel Aviv. His plan is to help them become the preeminent center for ballet in the Middle East with assistance from the American-Israeli Ballet Association, an organization he founded which raises visibility for Israeli ballet. It also brings exceptional dance artists from America into the Israel ballet to improve the standard of the company.

“The goal is to get the Israel Ballet on the international standard so they can tour around the world,” he said. “It will do wonders for the image and people of Israel.”

Once Akiba returns to the U.S., he’s enrolling in business school – he ended up getting his GED at 23 and completing an online program at Northeastern University last year. He’s not sure what’s ahead, but he’s excited about it.

“For the first time in my life, I don’t know what’s to come, but I want to find and explore a new passion,” he said.

Akiba spent a total of 16 years with the Boston Ballet. He followed his dreams and rose to the top of his profession. Today, his goal in life is to give back and show others that they can do the same.

“I want to inspire people around me, because people put a lot of limitations on themselves and say ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘This is holding me back’ or ‘I’m not good enough,’” he said. “I had a lot of obstacles and challenges in my way, but I wanted to inspire people and encourage them to feel they can do something if they really put their mind to it.”

Main graphic: Isaac Akiba in William Forsythe's Blake Works I; photo by Liza Voll