Photographed in the 1980s, Step by Step is Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s portrait of mother and daughter relationships and female community within a North Shields dancing school.

Developed through the early to mid-1980s, Step by Step is Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen’s exploration of mother and daughter relationships within the Connell-Brown Dancing School in North Shields. What began as a photographic documentation of the school evolved into a broader portrait of working-class life, examining the role of the dancing school as a space for community, aspiration and resilience among women and girls.