ELISA TORO
Mother of one. Dancer, Teacher & Voiceover Artist.
What is the most challenging aspect of working in dance and being a parent for you?
The necessity to constantly navigate the logistics and costs of childcare in such a way that my rehearsal, teaching, and performance commitments can be fulfilled in a way that is sustainable for me as a mother.
What support did you feel you had from work when you were pregnant?
The main support I had while I was still actively dancing and teaching throughout most of my pregnancy, was the flexibility of choreographers and directors to modify choreography so that it would be safer for me in my state (for example, eliminating jumps).
The director of FJK Dance, for instance, adapted the design of a costume to gracefully highlight my pregnancy, and he was
indeed the first one to come to the hospital to meet my daughter the day after she was born.
Was there anything that may not have been in place that you felt could have been useful?
It definitely would have been useful for me to know of Dance Mama while I was pregnant, so I were more scientifically informed and supported concerning safe ways to dance during pregnancy and in the postpartum recovery period. I basically went about dancing while pregnant in a predominantly intuitive way, listening to my body and feeling at all times how it would experience movement in the changing process of pregnancy and postpartum.
Do you think being a dancer/ working in the dance industry made you think differently about
your pregnancy/recovery?
I believe that being a dancer was my greatest asset in my pregnancy journey and in giving birth, because the strength, flexibility, use of gravity, and overall body awareness that dance entails came as indispensable tools of confidence along the process toward birth. The postpartum recovery, however, can be trickier because it requires more rest and stillness that I normally would give myself, since as a dancer I naturally lean toward being quite active.
In retrospect, I feel I resumed performing too soon after birth, within safety of course, yet I went back under the pressure of performing perhaps before I was fully ready for it. I do wonder if that pressure came precisely from how I perceive my role as a member of the dance industry.
From your experience, what advice would you give to an expectant parent regarding leave?
I would highly advise to carefully listen to your body at all times, really take your time in recovering from birth, and always consult with pelvic health specialists to ensure complete recovery.
If you were expected to dance postnatal (either by yourself or your employer) how did you
approach your recovery?
I felt the need to re-engage my body almost right after giving birth. The postpartum recovery, as I felt it, posed an opposite approach to the body as compared to that of pregnancy: while pregnancy uses flexibility, opening, and gravity, postpartum uses stillness, rest, closing and compacting. Therefore, I gradually re-introduced movement that would respond to the needs of postpartum and I did not go for a full range of motion before I was given green light to do so at my postpartum medical appointment.
What changed most for you on your return to work?
The logistics of childcare transform the daily landscape of any new mother. In dance, the needs of breastfeeding and the sensation of how the body is slowly finding its pre-pregnancy state, transform the feeling of dancing into a constant and interesting search for ‘where I am now’. The pelvis remains loose during the breastfeeding period, having the ligaments around it working harder to keep it in place, making one more prone to soreness and muscle strain. Also my philosophy changes in that I no longer aim for the perfectionist approach to have control over my dancing, but rather I aim to let dance happen to me, in a kind of surrender that evokes the same surrendering necessary for the identity transformation of birth.
Does parentng help you in your work?
Yes! For the most part, I feel I have become more efficient, being able to streamline my duties given the small windows of time that baby allows!
Does dance help you in your parenting?
Absolutely! Dance fuels connection to one’s body and that of others, it heightens intuition and sensibility to energy overall. These aspects are very helpful in parenting, so one can be more attuned to the baby’s needs and one’s own, creating moments of loving care, soothing, and embodied interaction with the baby.
Do you know of any resources that already exist for parents who work in dance?
Dancing for Birth, Spinning Babies, Mama Natural.
Anything else you think would be worth raising?
Besides being a dancer, I also work with my voice as a voiceover artist. I feel that becoming a mother has also expanded the workings of my voice, from using vocalisation to cope with labor, to honing my singing for the baby and also being able to deliver more empathetic reads in voiceover and narration from the sole experience of now being a mother!
More about Elisa
Elisa is a professional dancer, teacher, choreographer, and voiceover artist currently based in New York and originally from Colombia, Elisa is featured in works that integrate ballet, tango, ballroom, and Middle Eastern styles. She is a SAG-AFTRA member and performs with FJK Dance, Accent Dance NYC, Christopher Caines Dance, and with the Westchester Ballet Company as a guest ballerina. With FJK Dance, Elisa traveled on a 31-city tour of China in 2017 and now performs as principal in the company's annual seasons at New York Live Arts. In 2024, she performed with Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble as Anna II in The Seven Deadly Sins.
