Another Way to Dance

by Martha Southgate

Fourteen-year-old Vicki Harris's dream has come true. She has been accepted into the summer program at New York City's prestigious School of American Ballet. It will be hard work and highly competitive, but Vicki feels ready. She is totally committed to dancing.



Vicki isn't prepared to be one of only two African-American students in the program. Nor is she expecting the racism she finds within the school. And Michael, from Harlem, takes Vicki completely by surprise. He shakes up her dream world--where Baryshnikov is her idol, her parents never really got divorced, and every pirouette is perfect--and shows her that the real world is bigger than a stage.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Teen, African American, Realistic Fiction, Childrens

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

Martha Southgate is the author of four novels. Her newest, The Taste of Salt, is available in bookstores and online now. Her previous novel, Third Girl from the Left won the Best Novel of the Year award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was shortlisted for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award and the Hurston/Wright Legacy award. Her novel The Fall of Rome received the 2003 Alex Award from the American Library Association and was named one of the best novels of 2002 by Jonathan Yardley of the Washington Post. She is also the author of Another Way to Dance, which won the Coretta Scott King Genesis Award for Best First Novel. She received a 2002 New York Foundation for the Arts grant and has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Her July 2007 essay from the New York Times Book Review, “Writers Like Me” received considerable notice and appears in the anthology Best African-American Essays 2009. Previous non-fiction articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, O, Premiere, and Essence.

Reviews

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this book. I studied ballet for a dozen odd years and I can count on my fingers the number of non-white people I studied with over the years and schools. I remember being in a rehearsal once where the instructor - South American, and fairly dark-skinned himself - told us, without irony, to stay out of the sun because sylphs are supposed to be white. Classical ballet, according to my experience, was an unabashedly unenlightened, as well as fiercely competetive and totally absorbing world. So, I jumped when I found a book about the experiences (which, judging from their accuracy, and the author bio, are somewhat autobiographical) of a 14 year-old African American girl studying at SAB, the most exclusive school in the nation. It sort of delivered in that the bare facts of her experience were plausible and she doesn't fall back on some false device like the plucky heroine suffering under the tyranny of the uber-bitchy star pupil. Unfortunately she doesn't draw the narrator with any conviction. Her passion for dance, her struggle with the racism, mostly implicit - she's surrounded by white girls - rather than explicit, of the dance world, or her family's confusion and mild embarassment at her pursuit, it's all stated, but you don't feel it at all. It't too bad.

[Dera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Way to Dance by Martha Southgate
I ‘d read all of Martha Southgate's book and enjoyed them except for this book. I think this was her first novel and it is evidently YA. The main character, Vicki Harris, comes from a middle-class family in New Jersey. She is accepted into the American Ballet School for the summer in NYC. Vicki is obsessed with Baryshnikov that borders on extremism. Vicki's experience as a black girl is colored by her world of ballet. Because that avocation is predominately white, so are her friends and her life. When she sees black girls her age on the subway, she doesn't identify with them; their hair, their mode of dress, their big earrings. To her African Studies professor and natural-haired mother's chagrin, she insists that she must look like the others girls with straight hair worn in a chignon. Vicki's identity issues come to a head when she meets Michael from Harlem, who challenges her on some of her self-hate issues. Vicki is also dealing with the angst of her parents’ recent divorce.

Besides the fact that I like Southgate as a writer, I also am a dance enthusiast and studied ballet in my younger days. Those who like ballet and young black women dancers may identify with the subject matter but the book lacked depth in touching on the real issues of racism and self-identity.

[Liralen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Way to Dance is a deceptively straightforward book with a lot going on underneath. Vicki is in New York for a summer ballet programme—one that could potentially give her a huge leg up (no pun intended) in the ballet world—but she's hyperaware of her environment. The city is a mishmash of cultures and skintones, but the ballet world is whitewhitewhite, and Vicki's not sure she'll ever truly be allowed to make her home there.

In a lot of ways it's a fairly standard 90s YA ballet novel, but I appreciated the layers here...Vicki's imaginary relationship with Mikhail Baryshnikov, her sometimes uncertain introduction into Michael's life (is the Mikhail/Michael naming intentional?), her complicated relationships with her family. She wants to make ballet her life, but the truth of the matter is that she has a lot more going on than exclusively ballet.

This is Southgate's first novel, and the other two that I've read (Third Girl from the Left and The Fall of Rome) definitely had more sophistication, but this was still a nice quiet read with good depth.

[Vivienne Strauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Granted this was Southgate's first novel and it was for young adults - it just felt stiff and kind of shallow. Her later work is truly incredible and I can't wait to read more of her work in the future. So far The Fall of Rome and The Taste of Salt are my favorites.

[Michelle Smart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great coming-of-age story that confronts race in a refreshlying blunt way.

[booktatorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was refreshing to ready a Black coming of age book.

It touched on important factors of race while also implementing the importance of growing pains.

[Sarah Petrowich · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book a while ago, forgetting about it. But, I remembered just recently and remembered that this was an OK book. I just found it in a library, appealing enough title. So i read it. Let me just say, i did sort of like this book. I mean, i am a dystopian girl and fantasy. But, this was alright. I liked the romance in this book and the "adventure" that is taken place. But I felt like it was missing just a special something. Something that gave it a jaw-dropping, exciting feel to it. But it was just a story a ballet story that didn't have MUCH of a climax. But it definitely wasn't bad. I found it pleasing enough and missing it as a friend a little. I thought it was well written though, and had a delicate feeling to it. Whatever that means. If you do like ballet, give this book a shot. If you don't like ballet, give this book a shot too.

[Lucy Silbaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Another Way to Dance" was an interesting (though very speedy) read, told by an African-American teenager who's involved in the overwhelmingly white world of competitive ballet. Although I know very little about ballet, and am accordingly very unfamiliar with this intensive side of dance, I found that I could relate to many aspects of "Another Way to Dance". For starters, the protagonist, Vicki, has a narrative style that is easy to read, and will definitely be accessible to most teens. Additionally, the novel explores the insurmountable topics of race, passion, difficult family life, and adolescence: themes that we all encounter, high-level dancers or not. Definitely a one-day read, but fun and comfy all the same.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the basic storyline is about a 14 year old dancer who is studying at SAB in New York for the summer, the real issue is how a black person fits into a white world and whether she has anything in common with the other blacks that she sees around her in New York City. A love interest, divorced parents, and a fascination with Mikhail Baryshnikov (and a meeting with him that goes terribly wrong) all add to the plot. Eating issues are dealt with realistically, without overemphasizing anorexia/bulimia. Some mention of feet pain, but not to the point where it makes you wonder why people do this. This is at its heart a story of a teenager trying to find her place in the world.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was inspiring and the main character was accessible and interesting. I loved how passionate she was about dancing and how she really takes her commitment seriously and works so hard. I admire people like that. I also like the relationships in this book and that was my favorite aspect to think about while reading. There were relationships in Vicki's family with her mom, sister and aunt. There was also a lot of background information on her parents' divorce and how that affected her. Overall, it was definitely an interesting, good read.

[Wordup Carter]

Stories like these helped me to cultivate my unfamiliar emotions. I was younger when I read this book and became thankful for my own power of choice. I always felt like a misfit in my surroundings and this book helped me to cope. I seen a world similar to my own and was able to consider ways to navigate through my feelings and respond to others with more maturity. I really respect this heroine and the way she handled herself.

[Laura]

This book was a fun, quick read. It is the story of a teenage African-American ballerina, striving to reach her dream of becoming a professional dancer. The novel skims through the story of this young dancer, as she conquers obstacles and becomes a better person. I thought that the story was okay, but could have been much better if Southgate had incorporated more description and depth into the novel.

[Laura Jane]

This book was a fun, quick read. It is the story of a teenage African-American ballerina, striving to reach her dream of becoming a professional dancer. The novel skims through the story of this young dancer, as she conquers obstacles and becomes a better person. I thought that the story was okay, but could have been much better if Southgate had incorporated more description and depth into the novel.

[Nia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was terrific it tell the story of 14 year old Vikki and her struggle to dances.This book remind me of the play Hot feet.What got me the most about loving this book of how real this girl is in her life . I mean she wants to live in this fantasy world like everyone else will snap back to reality when needeed to that why I like this book so much.

[Malika]

I did not realize this was a young adult book, when I checked it out...yet, I still enjoyed it. I would suggest this for any young teen girl who ia living in racial isolation. Southgate handles the topic well, and does a great job showing there is love and acceptance for all of us when we make friends.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book features a candid and complex discussion of race, not only in the dance world, but also in life in general. Anyone who loved something or someone passionately at age 14 (Misha Baryishnikov in the case of this novel) will relate to Vicki's feelings and fantasies that help her through tough times.

(Typos spotted: 3)

[Mrs Tupac · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in the 5th grade. It was well written and a unique I thought Debbie Allen written this at first being she's a advocate for woman of color dancing. I learned about what black ballerinas went through. Vicky was such a strong woman and handled pressure VERY WELL in my opinion.

[Jordan Rock Hafford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book because I'm in love with ballet. I read this in my younger aspiring dance years.

[713 Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deep story filled with grace and beauty; a theme having to do with accepting yourself and finding your place in the world. Great read.

[Juliana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book when I was a few years younger and took tap dancing classes. It was pretty good but nothing about this book amazed me enough to recommend it.

[Letitia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book becasue it is about a black teen that is in a interest that is considered "white" by some people. THe main character wants to be a ballet dancer. It's very tight and well written.

[Sammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book when I was a kid. Maybe 5 or 6th grade. Perhaps the summer in between the two.

I remember loving this book, but perhaps it's time i gave it another read.