I had the opportunity last week to photograph dancer Caroline Niklas-Gordon’s rehearsal of a piece she is working on with her 5 year old daughter. It’s called Rock. Paper. Scissors. and it’s gorgeous.
I feel deeply about the importance and beauty of Caroline’s work, and this piece really touched my heart. I could see my own relationship with my daughter in her movement with hers.
As I watched them dance I felt the thread of connection that exists between a child and a parent that is tugged forward and back to launch and support, love and let go, and that this is a mutual and alternating action throughout life. I often feel like my daughter pulls me through life by reminding me of it’s purpose.
The weight of time does not burden a child. Instead, our own children can reverse the weight of time for us as parents.
I LOVE that Caroline is connecting with her daughter through her passion of dance. She is incorporating her love into her love, which makes it so meaningful – for herself, for her daughter and for the audience.
It can be hard as a parent to continue to call upon and maintain the same kind of creative energy that we had before we had children. But I think we need to shift our practice to include our children in our creativity. I am so excited to see how this piece evolves and to experience the ripple effects that I hope it will have in the arts community.
Rock. Paper. Scissors. will be performed as a work in progress in June in Toronto.
