Having it all!
by Amelie
Amelie, our Young Ambassador to Australia, writes about a very successful Ballet Artist, Amy Harris, and her experience with balancing family life and a demanding career life. Amelie has been really inspired by Amy’s commitment and determination to keep going, especially after starting a family, and wants every young girl to know that their passion in life doesn’t have to stop, you can do it and you can indeed ‘have it all!’ Watch Amelie’s interview with Amy Harris on our Video Hub now!
‘Your passion in life doesn’t have to end when you become a mother!’
Hi, I'm Amelie, I’m 14 years old and I'm the Inspiring Girls Young Ambassador to Australia. I have chosen to write about women who have risen to the top of their field whilst ‘having it all’.
A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Amy Harris who is a principal artist with the Australian Ballet. She is such an inspiration to me as she has been able to put her ballet on pause, have children and come back strong and healthy to her successful dancing career.
First of all I would like to talk about what it means to ‘have it all’. This is a very hard topic to define as having everything really is impossible. For me, this implies being really successful and accomplished at what you do while doing things that you wouldn't normally have the opportunity to do in your area. In Amy’s case, she had the best of both worlds or in other words she ‘had it all’ as she could have a family and be a professional ballet dancer at the same time.
For a dancer this is extremely difficult to come back to dance professionally after having a child, as your body isn’t moving and you're not exercising everyday as you normally would. Dancing demands a lot of energy and dedication, therefore it would be quite difficult to return to your previous level of dancing after 9 months of inactivity. The work ethic and programs that need to be followed to - 1). continue to dance in the early stages of pregnancy, 2). follow an altered movement program during the later stages of pregnancy and early recovery phase, and lastly, 3). building strength and body conditioning to dance professionally again.
In my time with Amy I learnt that the company has adapted and has been extremely helpful with her recovery and female dancers like her. This is a relatively new initiative by our country's company. In the 80’s, and 90’s, most ballerina’s would have retired to have a family. It simply isn't something that was supported during those decades.
Now we are very lucky to have the people and resources for dancers to have families and come back to dance professionally. I believe coming back shows a lot of strength and hard work which is what being a powerful woman is all about. The way Amy discussed balancing her workload of approximately 200 performances a year and her growing family was inspirational.
The times that these dancers work is also something that is different from the norm. They would have company class in the morning, then a break, then return to the theatre for either a matinee or evening performance, sometimes not finishing until 11pm in the evening. The organisation, planning and sometimes sacrifices that are made to make this work is unbelievable.
Amy Harris is a trailblazer in her field. She has paved the way for future professional ballerina’s to consider balancing family life and a demanding career life as an option. A career can not only continue, but flourish and progress while indeed ‘having it all’. I think this is an important message to send out to young girls today so that they know their careers don’t always have to stop when they have a family -with the right attitude and support, you can keep going and keep getting better! Your passion in life doesn’t have to end when you become a mother.