The work was originally linked to Keeping Time, an experimental drama made by Amber Films in 1982 that grew out of Konttinen’s photographs. She continued to follow the families involved, leading to a touring exhibition in 1984 and a book in 1987. Her photographs document the everyday realities of housing, unemployment, poverty, divorce and hard work, set against the backdrop of sequins, makeup, music and shared ambition.

The dancing school is presented as both a social space and a cultural institution, where romantic dreams coexist with the practical effort of survival. It offers a female-centred vision of strength and continuity, shaped through movement, costume and collective experience.

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen is a Finnish-born documentary photographer who has chronicled working-class life in North East England since the late 1960s.

A co-founder of the Amber Film and Photography Collective, her acclaimed work, including Byker and Step by Step, offer significant portrayals of the lives of everyday people in the North East. In 2011 her photography was inscribed onto the UNESCO Memory of the World Register as of national significance to the UK due to her embedded practice and historically vital portrayals of local communities. In 2025 Konttinen was awarded an MBE in the 2025 New Year’s Honours list for her services to photography.