Brittany, Matt, Schotia, June

Once upon a time before I became a mother I used to teach children’s dance. I ran a program for inner city children in Millers Point & also taught at the Aboriginal Dance Theatre Redfern on Saturdays. I had a passion for a holistic approach to teaching dance to children where they not only learned dance technique & foundations but where their self esteem, confidence & creativity could also be nurtured while their innocence was protected. Given how much consideration I had previously put into the subject of appropriate children’s dance, when it came to looking for my own daughters first dance class, I found myself struggling to find one that I could truly trust. Then I heard about Brittany’s classes at ‘imagination dance ‘ and I first met Brittany when I walked into one of her ballet classes for Ava to try. Ava was only 3 & Anouk was 11 months old. I discovered that Brittany was teaching the most delightful ballet classes. They were like nothing I had ever seen. Pure delight for young children. Ava joined then eventually when Ava started school, Anouk joined the classes. Those classes are now one of my sweetest memories of my time with my girls before they started school. Each week when we would arrive at Anouk’s class she would shake her little fists near her face and say “I’m so cited!!”. Precious memories.

Fast forward to 2015 and Brittany herself is now a mother of two absolutely beautiful girls named Schotia & June. When Brittany contacted me for this photo session she said that after June was to be born, her parents would be visiting Sydney from the USA & then soon after that, Brittany, Matt & their girls would be moving back to her home in the USA for the next chapter of their family journey. She wanted some photos of her family with both sets of grandparents & also their girls much loved God mothers to take with them.

We started at Brittany & Matt’s apartment then walked down to Balmoral which is only a short distance from where they have been living in Sydney.  We stepped into the white rotunda because it’s a place where Brittany & Schotia often play, then little Schotia treated us to some ballet complete with a few instructions for her mama.  I am thankful I got to capture these wonderful people together before they begin their next chapter.