The Creative Mother Paradox: Exploring the intersections between Motherhood and Balletic Practices
Abstract:
This presentation seeks to acknowledge the stigma around motherhood in ballet and to explore ways to create space for motherhood in balletic practices, on personal and institutional levels. I will discuss ways in which to navigate the Creative Mother Paradox: that when people become mothers, their brains and bodies adapt to become more resourceful, adaptable, and generally more creative, but their time, space, and energy to exercise that creativity in the dance world becomes more limited. When institutions and individuals dismiss or stigmatize mothering dance artists, it leads to the disappearance of more women in leadership roles in our artform.
As a dancing mother of three young children, I have personal experience, both positive and negative, of dancing as a professional and working in academia before, during, and after bearing children. This presentation is an outgrowth of my own experiences de-stigmatizing dance and motherhood with my undergraduate students, engaging in daily balletic practices and frequent performances during and after pregnancy, and choreographing works that center on motherhood/mothering relationships.
Couched in research, I aim to share strategies for dancing mothers that involve building communities of care (both professionally and personally), nervous system regulation, and increasing visibility of mothering artists. My presentation could also include excerpts of a dance film I created as a duet with myself at 6 months pregnant and 8 months postpartum. My hope is to give individuals and institutions more insight on how they can support and empower dancing mothers by giving space for them in this artform.