Most women at some point of their lives will ask themselves the questions: Can I be both a mother and a professional? This question is answered in a striking and touching way via the pages in Balancing Acts: The Prima Ballerina Becoming Mothers (Princeton Architectural Press). Compiled by photographer Lucy Gray, Balancing Acts follows the lives of three prima ballerinas from San Francisco Ballet—Kristin Long, Tina LeBlanc and Katita Waldo—into motherhood. The photographs prove to be particularly moving because being a ballerina depends heavily on the body as does motherhood. Therefore, becoming a mother makes a ballerina emphatically vulnerable.
Kristin Long rehearses as her son Kai looks on. (2000)
In her dressing room after her farewell performance, Tina LeBlanc kisses Marco as their son Marinko looks on. (2009)
All the women have sons: Katita Waldo and James Crutcher; Tina LeBlanc and Marinko Jerkunica; Kristin and Kai Long, backstage after a performance of The Vertiginous Thrills of Exactitude. (2002)
Baby girl Sarah has been fed and is napping, so Tina LeBlanc can work out. (2003)
Tina LeBlanc takes class when she is eight months pregnant. (2003)
Kristin Long gets back in shape with pianist Martin while six-week-old Hannah hangs out on the piano. (2009)
Main image: At nine-months pregnant, ballerina Lorena Feijoo gives a private lesson (2002)
