The pale pink dancing shoes hung on the ten penny nail in the back of the closet... the same shoes that her mother had given to her on that fateful night.

Camille Francios was to dance the lead in Swan Lake for the last time. In her dressing room, before the performance, her hands gently lifted her daughter's face.

"It's your turn, my darling."

She handed her a box wrapped in pale, ballet-pink paper. Clarice opened the box to find her first pair of ballet toe shoes. Her heart was filled with love for her mother and ballet.

"Hurry darling, take your seat for my finest and last performance."

Clarice could remember as if it were yesterday; she joined her nanny, Mrs. McNally, as the theatre lights dimmed. She had the shoe box with her new ballet toe shoes on her lap. The performance was flawless until.....

The white swan was spinning and spinning. Her partner lifted her and she was flying like a bird. The lift was a little too high and the white swan lost her balance, the toe shoes did not hold. A thud was heard. The core de ballet fluttered around the white swan as the curtain closed.

That night the world would change forever. After two weeks in the hospital her mother came home never to walk again. Her bedroom became a replica of a hospital room. The beautiful, dark stained four poster bed trimmed in white tulle was exchanged for a hospital bed. The chaise lounge in front of the picture window where Clarice and her mother would talk about her future as a ballerina was replaced with a wheelchair. The room became that of an invalid, with no place for her developing child.

The once Grand Dame of the ballet became a cranky, bitter woman. A directive was given to the housekeeper and Mrs. McNally that all reminders and mementos of the ballet world were to be removed from the house. Everyone but Clarice forgot about her new toe shoes.

Clarice took them to the guest room closet hanging them on a hidden ten penny nail. Within the next few weeks, Clarice made herself a makeshift practice bar and hung a mirror in the back of the closet. In the closet she would put on her toe shoes and practice her ballet positions until she was exhausted.

'You may have lost your dream mother, but I have not lost mine.'