A young dancer was hurt at a Carson City dance studio Thursday afternoon while performing a backward-leaning move. She was taken by helicopter to Washoe Medical Center in Reno.
Erica Kaskie, 17, was performing a whack-back-down about 3:30 p.m. when she fell backward at Western Nevada Performing Arts, according to witnesses.
"When she was kicking, she fell back and hit her tailbone on the floor. Now it's hard for her to move," said fellow dancer Jessica Shull, 12.
Mark Regan, the father of another dancer and a firefighter with Nevada Division of Forestry, said she looked all right.
"She'll be fine -it's just precautionary," he said. "We're not doctors - that's why we called an ambulance."
Other dancers waiting for their jazz class to start were emotional after the accident.
"It's frightening," said Katie Lauer, 13.
"It's just so freaky because I've been hurt before, and it's like really freaky to be hurt," said Brittney Sly, 12.
The injured dancer's mother, Gina Kaskie-Davis, accompanied her to Washoe Medical Center. She is the owner and operator of Western Nevada Performing Arts Center above Java Joe's coffee shop at 319 N. Carson street.
Rescue crews from Carson City Fire Department responded with an engine and an ambulance.