“Companies oftentimes see dancers, especially women, "unable" to have a career, a professional career after they're becoming mothers. And that's also part of the patriarchy because this is not how it works. Having a child and coming back to work, it can potentialize your work in so many ways. It can bring a broader vision for yourself and for others around you. It can change everything.” - Ingrid Silva

Ingrid Silva was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she began classical ballet training at age eight in the Dançando Para Não Dançar, a program that provided training to young people who could not otherwise afford dance classes.

Throughout her childhood, Silva was inspired by Brazilian ballet dancers, Mercedes Baptista and Ana Botafogo. Outside of Baptista, however, she had very few black Brazilian ballet dancers to idolize. Silva's passion for increased Afro Brazilian visibility in ballet, combined with her mother's unwavering support, inspired Silva to be her own role model at a young age.

By the young age of 17, Silva was an apprentice at Grupo Corpo, one of the most prestigious dance companies in Brazil. And in 2017, she was accepted into the Dance Theater of Harlem Summer Intensive Program in New York on a full scholarship. The following year, she joined the company's community engagement project, Dancing Through Barriers. In 2013, Silva joined the company full time, where she remains today. She felt affirmed by the Dance Theater of Harlem's celebration of African American culture through performance, community engagement, and arts education programs. Silva has held principal and soloist roles for renowned choreographers, including Arthur Mitchell, Donald Bird, Francesca Harper, and many others.

Speaking with Silva at her home in New York, it was a delight to be able to hear her own perspective on this incredible personal journey and how it has intersected with pregnancy and motherhood. We know that you all will really appreciate this conversation today.

Follow Ingrid's journey at:

• @IngridSilva
• http://www.ingridsilvaballet.com/

And discover her recent book A bailarina que pintava suas sapatilhas (currently available in Portuguese, and English soon!) here: http://www.ingridsilvaballet.com/booklivro

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This episode of Postpartum Production was recorded live at Blackbird Books Bookstore and Cafe in San Francisco, on a warm Spring day in the shop's back garden. This beautiful event was co-hosted by Recess Collective, a local San Francisco organization that builds inclusive community-centered spaces for families, particularly in the early years of parenting. A heartfelt thank you to both organizations for their efforts in uniting our community on that day, and every day.

That day, Kaitlin joined author Nicole Haroutunian at Blackbird for a reading of her novel Choose This Now, published by Noemi Press this year, with conversation and questions from the audience about her process and inspiration for the book. In the audience were young children and parents wandering in and out; a mother nursing her child for most of the event sitting in the audience. We hope these kinds of readings and author events become more common ways that we can incorporate those whose schedules don't accommodate evening or late night events, but can fold into days when caregiving can, as we know, often feel like the only task.

In addition to readings from Choose This Now, Kaitlin and Nicole discuss:

1. How Nicole has chosen to navigate talking about experiences of early caregiving, friendship, and all the layers that she manages in the book, in a realistic way
2. The experience of having given birth; what shifted in Nicoles life in terms of how she now creates literary works
3. How Nicole relates to her work, and how that fed her characters experiences themselves as well

A special shout out to Artist Residency in Motherhood (ARiM), mentioned in this episode, and Cut + Paste, for bringing Kaitlin and Nicole- and so many other artist mothers- together.

More on Nicole: Nicole is also the author of Speed Dreaming, which was published by Little A in 2015. Her work has appeared in the Georgia Review, Story, the Bennington Review, Joyland, Post Road, and Tin House's Open Bar, as well as many others. She lives with her family in Woodside, Queens in New York City. You can find more of her work at:

• http://nicoleharoutunian.com/
• @nicoleharoutunianwriter

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. This will help us reach more listeners like you who are navigating the joys and pitfalls of artistic and parenting identities.

Visit our website: postpartumproduction.com

Follow us on Instagram: @postpartumproductionpodcast

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter on Substack: https://postpartumproduction.substack.com

"It's about history, it's about family lineage, and it's about what we bring into the world." - Remica Bingham-Risher

We continue our exploration of birth and creativity with Remica Bingham-Risher. Remica is the author of Conversion, which was winner of the Naomi Long Magit Poetry Award, What We Ask of Flesh, which was shortlisted for the Hurston Wright Award, and Starlight & Error, winner of the Diode Editions Book Award. Her first book of prose, Soul Culture: Black Poets, Books, and Questions that Grew Me Up was published by Beacon Press in 2022.

Her next book of poems, Room Swept Home, was published by Wesleyan in February 2024, which we spoke about in the podcast. This beautiful collection examines the murky waters of race, lineage, faith, mental health, women's rights, and the reckoning that inhabits the discrepancy between lived versus textbook history. She's currently the Director of Quality Enhancement Plan Initiatives at Old Dominion University, and she currently lives in Norfolk, Virginia with her husband and children.

In today’s conversation, Kaitlin and Remica discuss:

1. Room Swept Home and the research Remica conducted to build this work of archival research, as well as personal memoir and communal history that is infused in the book and her research
2. The ways in which she encountered birth in this collection of poetry
3. How the narratives of childbirth through her own personal history have become such a compelling and fruitful space for her own exploration as a person, as a mother and as an artist

Discover Remica’s work here:

• https://www.remicabinghamrisher.com/
• @remicawriter

Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and give us a rating. This will help us reach more listeners like you who are navigating the joys and pitfalls of artistic and parenting identities.

For regular updates:

Visit our website: postpartumproduction.com

Follow us on Instagram: @postpartumproductionpodcast

Subscribe to our podcast newsletter on Substack: https://postpartumproduction.substack.com