Artifact Motherhood | a story of a pointe shoe fitting

As she sat waiting to try on her first ballet pointe shoes I remembered this…

“To Jeanie’s mum, please don’t forget Frankie (the toy elephant) for next week’s class, with love from Miss Angela.”

the note passed to me by my red-eyed, tear-stained three-year-old daughter, written by her ballet teacher after a rather fraught ballet lesson. You see, we had arrived in such a rush to realise we’d forgotten him. She walked into class Frankie-less, her weekly mascot that was allowed to sit with the other toys brought, quietly in the corner to watch the children practice their ballet.

The years have past and Frankie no longer gets to watch, but the no-nonsense love and commitment given by Miss Angela, to her dancing family, remains as strong as ever.

The saying ‘the show must go on’ has never been more true, as we went from a dazzling dance show last March 2020 into a global pandemic.

Now we can’t quite remember a time when there wasn’t a weekly zoom-ballet lesson in our living room, but she’s back into the dance studio once more. And less than a week later we find ourselves in the magical kingdom of a dance shop, being fitted for her first ballet pointe shoes.

The resilience of these kids continues to shine brightly, even through their protests of embracing a new-normal life. One which has gone from a virtual to a physical reality in a heartbeat.

So this day, this pointe shoe fitting, was much more than a mother’s honour to be part of such a key experience in her young dancer’s world. This was another huge step with her daughter, into unravelling from a locked-down world and proving that the show really must go on.

Artifact Motherhood is a collaboration of artists/mothers from around the world. Sharing stories of the joys and struggles of our journey. Our hopes and dreams for our children. With little nuggets of wisdom here and there. These are more than photographs with dates written on the back. These are the artifacts we are leaving behind for our children and the generations to come.

Please visit the next artist in our blog circle, the talented Jessie Nelson and continue through all the artists until you get back to me.