Saturday, March 08, 2008

dancing mama

I loved this article in the SF Chronicle today. It was about an ODC dancer who had a baby and how it changed her dancing and her life.

Even if you've never danced formally, you'll be able to relate to her and appreciate her (and her husband's) revelations.

But let's start with ODC, which is proving itself to be not only at the top of their game artistically, but also administratively. The fact that the artistic director and other top brass at the company say things like, "We're always going to have a space for you, there's no pressure to come back this season," and "We've been through it. I don't think anything makes it easy, but I think it helps to be in an environment where you know that people understand that. We know that the less comfortable and secure you feel about your baby's care, the less you'll be able to do," proves that they're on the leading edge of family-friendly workplaces.

But perhaps my favorite quote is from Yayoi Kambara herself: "Becoming a mom, she says, has made her clearer on what she really wants for herself.

'I believe that we as individuals have to be happy in order to make our children happy. It's so important to us that Hanae [her daughter] feels confident and that she feels she can do anything that she wants to do, that she dreams whatever she wants and then goes ahead and does it. And if we didn't do that for ourselves, then how is she going to learn that?'"

Amen to that!