Balancing Acts
or a title given the project by Gloria Steinem: No More Red Shoes: The Art of Ballet and Motherhood
April 1st - June 26th, 2005

I visited a high school for children of Mexican farm workers in Salinas, California. Many of the parents were working in the U.S. illegally, and there was terrible gang violence among the students who were trying not to feel bad for being who they were and being where they were. I was really surprised when, a week later, about thirty of these students came to the opening of the exhibition of forty "Balancing Acts" pictures at Stanford University. They sat with the feminist writers and scholars at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender, while I spoke about three of the ten prima ballerinas in major American companies who have braved a great deal of ignorance and pressure to have children during their careers. What I found extremely touching was to see the common thread in that room between the highly educated intellectuals and the young immigrants who had all felt prejudice around themselves and their mothers.

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