Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen: Step By Step

Published in September - available to preorder. 

Step by Step (1982-1989), is a study of girls and their mothers at a dancing school in North Shields, in North East of England, and their later lives after leaving the school.

First published in 1989 and long out of print, this new edition of Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s classic book has been extensively revised by Sirkka. It is printed in tritone to ensure the highest quality of image reproduction.

Sirkka followed the lives of the dancing daughters and their dance mothers over a six-year period, seeing how their dreams and their dancing came to sustain them in their tougher personal realities. Step by Step includes their insightful and witty narratives and explores their growing awareness of the challenges they face as women in their particularly challenging urban environment.

This series was a strong influence on the development and writing of Lee Hall’s play Dancer, which became the cult coming-of-age film Billy Elliot.

Born in Finland, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen came to study filmmaking in London and became a founder member of Amber Film & Photography Collective, based since 1969 in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England. Sirkka’s seminal documentation of Byker, the close-knit community of Newcastle upon Tyne that was her home for seven years while destined for wholesale redevelopment led to national recognition as a key photographic and filmic account of a rich working class culture on the eve of its destruction.

A limited special edition of 60 copies is also available at a price of £99.00. This edition includes a signed copy of the book and a 10" x 8" giclée print signed by Sirkka.  Each print is presented in a sleeve. The image is the photograph which appears on the front cover of the book.