The Ballerinas Regina Willoughby and Melina Willoughby

Having babies is tough on dancers’ bodies. But mom-of-two Regina Willoughby, 40, was still soloing with the Columbia City Ballet as its lead ballerina until March. And in her final season this year while she danced the Snow Queen in

The Nutcracker, her 18-year-old daughter, Melina, pirouetted in the snow corps as a trainee with the South Carolina company.

“I was a little worried her first day—was I going to be Mom to her or a co-worker?” Regina says. “But we had no issues; we just got to work.” What mom learned from daughter: “To just let things go sometimes, when it is what it is.” Is she “Mom” at work? “I called her ‘Madre’ growing up, so I do the same at work,” Melina says.