Ballerina Credits Mother's Grit for Career Success

Isabella Boylston, a principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre since 2014, attributes her resilience and determination to her mother, who grew up poor in a Swedish hamlet near the Arctic Circle, became the only woman in her year to earn a master's in electrical engineering from Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan, and later moved to the U.S. after meeting Boylston's father on a ski lift in Sun Valley, Idaho. Boylston recalls her mother's fearlessness, including outrunning a black bear while mountain biking, and her ability to endure hardship, which Boylston channels during performances, such as dancing with torn ligaments or performing ABT's Nutcracker while three months pregnant. The essay is part of Vogue's 'Hand Me Down' series, running daily through Mother's Day.