Ballet Shoes Mug

Ballet Shoes.  Original artwork by Julia Griffith.

When I was little, I desperately wanted to be a ballet dancer.

There were no lessons available to me, so I did what children do when they really want something, I improvised.  I would curl my toes under and try to stand en pointe, convinced that this was probably more or less how ballerinas did it.  I also used broom handles to pull myself up on to my poor bent under toes and practised my own version of ballet at home.

Looking back, I am fairly certain no ballet teacher would have approved of my technique.

The ballet shoes in this artwork grew from that memory: the fascination with something graceful and beautiful and the determination to join in somehow even when the proper equipment, lessons or opportunity simply weren’t there.

I think there is something lovely about the things we long for as children.  Even when they never quite happen in the way we imagined, they stay with us.

A Note from the Artist:

I never became a ballerina, but I certainly gave it a good try in my own way.

This picture is a little nod to that child who thought a pair of curled toes and a couple of broomsticks were all that stood between her and Swan Lake.