I
I am a dancer
That's who I am
What I do
- lyrics from A Chorus Line

I have been dancing and singing all of my life. My mother says I did fan kicks in the womb. I performed for my cat and stuffed animals since - well, birth, then jumped on stage any and every chance I got. I still do. My favorite types of dance are tap and character. I never pursued a career in classical ballet, preferring the aforementioned dance styles, but I have always loved tutus and ballet slippers.

I learned the gritty, gory details about ballet from books. I read The Sisters Impossible by J.D. Landis at a very young age and took various things away from the story. I knew couldn't afford all of the special training and items, especially the multiple pairs of shoes that bleeding ballerina feet require. I knew I was too short to ever be a prima ballerina. This didn't upset me at all, because, as I said earlier, I figured out that I didn't want to be a professional ballerina. I wanted to be loud and showy, and to sing while I danced.

I checked The Sisters Impossible out of the library countless times. The book is now out-of-print. Thanks to literaticat, I now own it. Oh, thank you, thank you!

In literature, both classic and contemporary, ballet tends to be the dominate dance detailed. Here now is a list of my favorite pieces of juvenile fiction and teen fiction about dancers.

Picture Books
The Angelina Ballerina series by Katharine Holabird and Helen Craig
Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees
The Only Boy in Ballet Class by Denise Gruska, illustrated by Amy Wummer
Josephine Wants to Dance by Jackie French

For ages 8 and up
Noelle of the Nutcracker by Pamela Jane, illustrated by Jan Brett
Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Dancing Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
The Sisters Impossible by J.D. Landis
Kathleen: The Celtic Knot by Siobhan Parkinson
The Royal Ballet School Diaries series by Alexandra Moss
The Susie books by Lee Wyndham, especially Susie and the Ballet Family
The Jessi books in The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin, especially:
- #42 Jessi and the Dance School Phantom
- #61 Jessi and the Awful Secret
- #115 Jessi's Big Break

For ages 13 and up
On Pointe by Lorie Ann Grover
A Dance of Sisters by Tracey Porter
Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian Cirrone
A Time for Dancing by Davida Wills Hurwin
- Sequel: The Farther You Run by Davida Wills Hurwin
The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Aimee Friedman
House of Dance by Beth Kephart
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Closing remarks:

Dance is a sport. Dancers are athletes.

I wish I could have worked with Gene Kelly.

I am very, very critical of modern movies dealing with hopeful singers and dancers. Just ask anyone who has been (un)fortunate enough to be in the room with me when Save the Last Dance or Center Stage comes on TV. That being said, I find the movie version of A Time for Dancing enjoyable, though it was not wholly true to the book. This is not only because I think Larisa Oleynik rocks, but because it was an decent film with decent dance sequences.

Related Booklists:
But I Don't Want to Be Famous!
But I DO Want to Be Famous!
Hey There, Sports Fan
Sing Sing Sing

In Daphne Grab's debut novel, Alive and Well in Prague, New York, teenage Matisse feels like a city mouse forced into the life of a country mouse - so, naturally, the first question I asked the author was:

Are you a city mouse or a country mouse?

I grew up in the country but I am all city! The country is wonderful and I love to visit, but, like Matisse, I need bustle and noise around me, and concrete under my feet.

( Read more... )

Visit Daphne's website.

Read my review of Alive and Well in Prague, New York.