"Mum, who had been a dancer with a small ballet company before she got married, was full of encouragement. She didn't say, 'This is really good, you should do this', She just encouraged us to do whatever we liked"
About this Quote
The encouragement, then, carries subtext. When Mum “didn’t say, ‘This is really good, you should do this’,” she’s withholding the kind of praise that can become a contract. No early verdict, no converting a hobby into identity, no attaching parental approval to measurable talent. Instead, the support is procedural rather than evaluative: keep going, keep trying, keep choosing. That’s an emotionally astute form of care, especially in families adjacent to show business, where “potential” can become a pressure cooker.
Minogue’s phrasing also smuggles in a generational story about women’s options: the mother’s dancing ends “before she got married,” a polite clause that still reads like a door closing. Her refusal to steer her kids into a single lane feels like a corrective - not bitterness, but a commitment to autonomy. In a pop culture ecosystem built on audition culture and constant ranking, this kind of non-directive encouragement is almost a counter-programming: permission over projection, curiosity over legacy.
Quote Details
| Topic | Mother |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Minogue, Dannii. (2026, January 17). Mum, who had been a dancer with a small ballet company before she got married, was full of encouragement. She didn't say, 'This is really good, you should do this', She just encouraged us to do whatever we liked. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/mum-who-had-been-a-dancer-with-a-small-ballet-42684/
Chicago Style
Minogue, Dannii. "Mum, who had been a dancer with a small ballet company before she got married, was full of encouragement. She didn't say, 'This is really good, you should do this', She just encouraged us to do whatever we liked." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/mum-who-had-been-a-dancer-with-a-small-ballet-42684/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Mum, who had been a dancer with a small ballet company before she got married, was full of encouragement. She didn't say, 'This is really good, you should do this', She just encouraged us to do whatever we liked." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/mum-who-had-been-a-dancer-with-a-small-ballet-42684/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

