Ballerinas having babies

[Melody]

I've been binge-watching the Australian TV series Dance Academy on YouTube, and I was wondering how realistic the Karamakov family is.

 

The younger child is a first-year student at the academy and is 15 when the series starts; she has her 16th birthday during the first few months of that year, if I remember right. The elder child is a third-year student, who I assume is 17 at the start of the series. Their mother is one of the principal dancers with the company and appears to be somewhere in her early 40s (the actress playing her was 39 in 2010 when the first series aired); during the first series she was dancing Odette-Odile, so she's still an active ballerina doing physically demanding roles.

 

So we have a ballerina who was pregnant in her early to mid-20s and then again a couple of years later, but has managed to become a principal dancer even with all that time off early in her career. Does that actually happen in real life? I've heard of principal dancers having one or two children in their 30s when their careers are well established, but I wondered how often it happens that a dancer has children early on and goes on to have a top-level career.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Melody

[Jan McNulty]

Lynn Seymour? Andrea Tredinnick? Annette Pain?

[Lenore]

Allegra Kent had 3 children in a relatively short space of time all in her 20's. Although she had already been promoted to Principal before that, when she was 19. That's the only example I can really think of & it's probably a rare case. 

 

Also, mostly going by memory here (her autobiography was an interesting read, but it's been a while since I read it!), but I believe Balanchines interest in her waned the more children she had, leading to less & then eventually no new role creations (although she did continue to dance with the company as a principal until her forced retirement in the 1980's). 

[Ivy Lin]

Svetlana Lunkina? She had a child when she was 25 and went on to have a very good career.

 

Olesia Novikova has three young children.

 

As for Allegra Kent Balanchine's interest in her waned not just because she had kids but she also got a tummy tuck that led to severe injuries while dancing, and she had a difficult personal life that made her unreliable. She expresses gratitude that despite this Balanchine insisted on keeping her on payroll.

[MAB]

Novikova however has not been made a principal, nor has Osmolkina who has two little boys, though both dance leading roles.  Of the eight Mariinsky female principals I believe the four mothers had children after promotion to the top rank, not before.

[Estreiiita]

Kizzy Matiakis, last October promoted to Principal Dancer of the Royal Danish Ballet, is a mother of the 5-y.o. boy. 

[betterankles]

Many dancers take little time off - performing until 'it shows' and then continuing to do class right up to birth, and getting back to performing even in a couple of months often going on to perform better then ever..

[Amelia]

Marianna Ryzhkina had her first son at 21 and the second one at 27. It did not prevent her to become a Principal at the Bolshoi. Her elder son Klim Efimov dances now leading roles in Nutcracker, Raymonda, Les Sylphides. They even performed together.

[Ivy Lin]

A lot of the Russian ballerinas have more than one child.

Evgenia Obraztsova just had twins.

Alina Somova is pregnant for the second time.

Svetlana Lunkina as I mentioned had two children in her 20's.

Yana Selina has twins as well.

Zhanna Ayupova had three kids I believe.

I mentioned Novikova having three kids.

 

Even the big divas like Uliana Lopatkina and Svetlana Zakharova have daughters.

[Jan McNulty]

It must be very hard for dancers in companies where there is a big touring commitment.

[MAB]

36 minutes ago, Ivy Lin said:

A lot of the Russian ballerinas have more than one child.

Evgenia Obraztsova just had twins.

Alina Somova is pregnant for the second time.

Svetlana Lunkina as I mentioned had two children in her 20's.

Yana Selina has twins as well.

Zhanna Ayupova had three kids I believe.

I mentioned Novikova having three kids.

 

Even the big divas like Uliana Lopatkina and Svetlana Zakharova have daughters.

 

The O/P was about dancers having children at an early age and going on to principal level, not about which dancers are mothers.  I think that is relatively rare and only an exceptionally talented dancer can survive a career gap very early on.  I personally know a Russian girl who became pregnant as a teenager, she found employment afterwards but not with a major company.

 

In western society laws exist which give women strong employment rights and in theory if an AD decides to side line a dancer after maternity leave I imagine she is entitled to go to tribunal, but in reality it would be difficult to prove a pregnancy led to roles drying up.  Naming no names, an RB principal of the 70's told me she had few new roles after motherhood, though I remember other colleagues fared better.

 

Wasn't the film Turning Point about two dancers, one of whom had children and retired and the other having none and becoming a star.

[loveclassics]

46 minutes ago, MAB said:

 

Wasn't the film Turning Point about two dancers, one of whom had children and retired and the other having none and becoming a star.

 

Yes, it was.  In the film Anne Bancroft was the career girl and Shirley MacLaine the one who retired after having her daughter.  Said daughter (Leslie Browne, if my memory is right)  then became a dancer with Anne Bancroft as her mentor and Baryshnikov, no less, as the bad boy she falls for.  Directed with his usual gloss by Herbert Ross, it wasn't a bad film as ballet films go.  A little OTT but great performances from the two stars and guest dancers Bujones, Cragun, Haydee, Sibley, Aldous, Farrell & Martins plus members of American Ballet Theatre and a cameo from Danilova.  Well worth an hour or two of your time if it comes up on TV again.

 

Linda

[Melody]

Thanks for the info, everyone. So it looks as though the Karamakov family in Dance Academy is unusual but not totally unheard of.

[mimi'smom]

A short documentary, balance (sorry don't know how to do an accent on here!), featuring Laura Purkiss of BRB is currently being shown at various film festivals and is all about balancing a ballet career and motherhood. Not sure how/if/when it will be available for general viewing but a trailer is available on the film's Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/balancefilm/

 

[Geoff]

(Deleted post)

 

Edited May 16, 2017 by Geoff
Photo didn't work so deleted post, sorry