Dancers share challenges of juggling motherhood in show coming to Columbus Dance Theatre
Juggling work and family can be a tricky balancing act. When you work in the performing arts, it becomes more like walking a tightrope.
Just ask Megan Davis Bushway, Kelly Hurlburt, Chloe Napoletano, Sarah Ramey and Rowan Salem, all established dancers and choreographers who became mothers between 2018 and 2023.
During those five years, they have faced the trials of creating art while caring for small children and adjusting to the shifting sense of self that can come with being a parent.
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"The challenges change so much depending on the stages your kids are in. In the early newborn days, it's all-consuming to take care of the baby. Your body is recovering from one of the most intense experiences you can have in your life," said Ramey, the mother of a 5-year-old and a toddler.
"Every aspect of my dance life was changed. Also, how I felt about my body, how I viewed my body changed."
Ramey, who hasn't been performed in five or six years, will return to the stage with her four colleagues in "Inside Voices," a project offering a peek into the dancers' environments, art and efforts to build lives that allow their dual identities as artists and mothers to coexist.
Performances will be at 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at Columbus Dance Theatre, 592 E. Main St. Tickets cost $18 general admission and $15 for seniors, available at bit.ly/4ehrMBM .
The group's efforts to squeeze in rehearsals for "Inside Voices" is a perfect illustration of the project's message. Hurlburt, who met Ramey while studying dance at OSU and is mom to a 1-year-old daughter, described the unusual process.
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"We've sort of had to create and work around the scheduling component, navigating five people's schedules, let alone five mothers. A lot of our rehearsals have been solo, then we check in with each other," she said.
"Ideas and concepts have been percolating for a long time. We've all been working on these a little bit and now we're sort of bringing it all together in an intense sort of way. It's five different stories that we're weaving together."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 'Inside Voices' is coming to the Columbus Dance Theatre in October
