The first thing she knew after the crash, which occurred on the Pacific Highway near Lake Munmorah in June this year, was she could not feel her legs. 

“On impact it was immediate paralysation from the waist down,” Watts said. 

She was taken to the John Hunter Hospital and it would be several days before she began to feel sensation in her legs.

“My left leg had some sensation, I could move it, but my right leg couldn’t move,” she said.

“They said because it was nerve damage there was a possibility it would never come back.”

Watts was not going to accept that prognosis. She had been training to become a professional dancer since she was three. 

“I was on a walking frame for a month and a half, maybe two months. Then I upgraded to a walking stick,” she said.

“From the walking stick I am back dancing.”

Watts attributes this feat to her “stubborn” attitude and years of ballet training. 

“I was scared because I had trained my whole life for this one thing I wanted to do,” Watts said. “My legs are a massive part. I needed them.”

About three months after the crash Watts approached the ballet bar she has installed in her bedroom.

“I attempted some really easy ballet pliés … there was lots of hydrotherapy, lots of physiotherapy and doctors’ appointments,” Watts said.

“It wasn’t the recovery I wanted, it wasn’t quick, it wasn’t easy,” she said.

“But I thought, ‘OK, I can’t feel my legs, let’s get back into it.’”

Watts returned to Newcastle’s Catapult Dance where she trains in contemporary dance with her teacher Cadi McCarthy. Just three weeks after getting back on her feet she auditioned to train with the Israeli-based Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and was accepted. 

She is currently performing in Manning the Fort.

For information and tickets: civictheatrenewcastle.com.au