Teen Dancer Brooke Kim Is Transforming Her Experience with Scoliosis into an Ambitious Effort

Brooke Kim was 6 years old when she took her first ballet-tap-acro class with her best friend, initially just for fun. She never stopped.

“I love the freedom of dance and exploring what my body can create,” she says.

Today, the Palos Verdes Estates teen attends the Commercial Dance Conservatory at Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) and trains at Mather Dance Company in Placentia. She is also a Teen Company member with Hollywood Connection Dance Convention, traveling to assist dance instructors on stage.

Dance occupies much of her world and, unexpectedly, became the starting point for an advocacy effort she hopes will reach young people far beyond the studio. Brooke was 11 when she was diagnosed with scoliosis in 2022. At first, she didn’t fully understand what the diagnosis might mean.

Two years later, when doctors told her she needed to wear a brace at night, that changed. “A scoliosis diagnosis is a scary thing,” she says.

For the teenager, the medical concerns were accompanied by intensely personal ones: uneven shoulders and hips, changing clothes in a locker room, sleepovers and the possibility that friends might discover the brace she preferred to keep private. She remembers hiding it in a closet at one sleepover.

“No one likes being different, especially as a teen,” she says. “I still have a difficult time talking about my scoliosis.”

She was grateful for the news that she could keep dancing. Eventually, the thing Brooke was reluctant to discuss became something she felt compelled to talk about. As she began opening up, she discovered other dancers and peers with scoliosis who weren’t talking about it either.

In 2025, Brooke created the Scolio Dance Initiative, a program in alliance with the Joy Card Project—a student-led nonprofit she had co-founded with her brother, Logan, two years earlier. The siblings created Joy Card after witnessing their grandmother’s loneliness following their grandfather’s death.

“I love the freedom of dance and exploring what my body can create.”

Its simple premise—young people making cheerful cards for seniors—has since grown to thousands of youth volunteers across 35 states and 10 countries, with more than 44,000 handmade cards delivered.

“Anyone can make a difference, no matter your age. You just need paper, crayons and empathy,” says Brooke, who brought that same philosophy to scoliosis advocacy.

She began researching screening and early detection, then approached the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District about distributing scoliosis awareness materials. The district approved annual distribution. She later made public comments before the PVPUSD and the Los Angeles Unified School District and began reaching out to elected officials about expanding scoliosis awareness for families.

She also found a natural audience within the dance community. Hollywood Connection owner Bill Bohl agreed to distribute awareness flyers on the organization’s 14-city national tour, potentially putting the information in front of thousands of dancers, parents and teachers.

Brooke’s advocacy has also become intertwined with Luskin Orthopaedic Institute for Children. Her family had volunteered with the organization before she became a patient. Now a scoliosis ambassador, she has worked with the institute on awareness materials distributed to schools, studios and dance conventions.

Brooke says that access to information is especially important for families that may not have regular access to health care. Her goal is straightforward: If schools aren’t conducting universal screenings, families should at least know what signs to look for.

And she isn’t finished. Brooke is working with the LAUSD on an annual distribution of scoliosis information and plans to continue pursuing state and federal action. She is also developing a public service announcement created with fellow students at OCSA, bringing together young artists from film, acting and commercial dance.

It’s an ambitious agenda for someone still balancing school and dance training. But Brooke’s work has grown from a lesson she learned early with Joy Card: Meaningful change can begin with a simple gesture.