Awakenings

Abstract

Poulos (2010) states that “performance is a gradual awakening” (p. 211). Parenthood, on the other hand, can be a very rude awakening indeed. This performance piece on parenthood and the significance of first-time parenting groups, is full of awakenings, both gradual and rude. Drawing upon 24 interviews with members of grassroots “mothers' groups”, this performance piece explores the researcher as first time mother, existing in the space “between awakening and full consciousness, between dream and everyday reality, between inspiration and creation” (p. 212). We use performance, as Alexander and Myers (2010) describe, to “rehearse possibilities of transformation, intervention, and change” (p. 264); specifically, we propose a structured postnatal program through the Public Health Agency of Canada that will assist in the formation of mothers' (or parents') groups to help ease the transition to parenthood. We also use this performance piece to represent motherhood “from within”. As Nelson (2009) argues, “Motherhood is a topic of interest in many disciplines, but much of the mass information about motherhood talks around motherhood, about motherhood, without speaking of motherhood from within it” (p. 14, original emphasis). For, performance and motherhood have at least one thing in common: “After, one is never the same” (Pelias, 2010, p. 173).