Balancing Acts – featuring Three Prima Ballerinas becoming Mothers.
Photos by Lucy Gray
Harvey Milk Photo Center and Dave Christensen, Director cordially invite you and your friends to our next opening reception for Balancing Acts: Three Prima Ballerinas Becoming Mothers.
Photographs by: Lucy Gray, a bay area photographer who has worked on a series of pictures at San Francisco Ballet for 15 years. Tina LeBlanc and her son Sasha will be there. Kristin Long and her husband – the conductor at the ballet – Martin West, will be at the opening reception to sign books from 2-4pm.
The women in this book are brave and gifted. They are wonderful artists, each of them, and the commitment it takes to be a mother is perhaps learned, in part, by the job of being a professional dancer.
—Mark Morris
Few jobs are more physically and mentally demanding—or more exhilarating—than being a prima ballerina. And yet, despite very real professional risks, three principal dancers from the world-class San Francisco Ballet—Kristin Long, Tina LeBlanc, and Katita Waldo—all decided to do something that was once considered completely taboo for ballerinas. They all became pregnant and had children while at the pinnacle of their careers.
In Balancing Acts, photographer Lucy Gray takes readers on an unforgettable fourteen-year journey with these ballerinas and their families, providing both an intimate backstage look into the workings of a top ballet company and an examination of the everyday challenges and joys familiar to mothers everywhere.
In over one hundred dramatic black-and white photographs, Gray documents their struggles to balance the demands of family and work—from their tireless preparation in rehearsals and dazzling mastery of craft displayed on stage, to their time spent relaxing at home with family and even while giving birth. The book also features candid and revealing interviews with the dancers and their families, plus a foreword by New Yorker critic Hilton Als.
May 9–June 7, 2015
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 9, 1–4 p.m.
Book Signing: Saturday, May 9, 2–4 p.m.
Harvey Milk Photo Center
50 Scott St at Duboce
(415) 554-9522
Gallery Hours
Tue–Thur: 4–9 p.m. | Sat: 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m. | Sun: 12–5:30 p.m.
*The event is free, and open to the public.
About the Photographer & Author
Lucy Gray is an award-winning photographer whose work has been featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Independent, Mother Jones, Dance Magazine, and Salon.com, as well as in exhibitions and projects across the United States.