Shimmy

by Kari Jones

Lila has always wanted a career in belly dance, so she is thrilled when she is invited to join Dana Sajala’s competitive and prestigious studio. But dancing at the new studio isn’t quite what she expected. Dana Sajala is a tough teacher, and Lila finds the constant criticism stressful. On top of that, Lila misses the dancers from her old troupe, and a rift is developing between her and her best friend, Angela, who is not altogether sympathetic to Lila’s struggles. Lila has always loved belly dance—the music, the costumes, the choreography—but when she realizes that none of it is as much fun as it used to be, she starts to question whether she has made the right choice.

140 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 8, 2015

About the author

I am a writer living in Victoria where I alternate between writing and teaching. I love writing about kids in action, kids exploring their world, and kids solving problems for themselves. In "Shimmy" I got to combine two of the things I love the most: dancing and writing, and in At The Edge of the World, I explored how kids become adults. I like to set my books in places I have lived, so that I have an excuse to visit some of my favorite spots in the world.

Reviews

[Niyyah Ruscher-Haqq · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a cute story for middle grade readers that is a fair introduction to belly dance. The story was pretty low stakes so that may work well for some readers.

My main critique is, as a belly dancer, most readers of this book, set in America, will have a very limited view of what belly dancing is. It is very rare to have so many studios of belly dance in one city, unless a large metropolitan one. I've also been dancing for 20 ish years and I don't usually see kids classes (which is unfortunate). These are all details I can play with - but one that I wish this author would have touched on is the origins of dance.

There is nothing at all about how belly dance was introduced to the states - most Americans understand belly dance through an orientalist fetish that is built for a male gaze and hypersexualized. While the dance can be sensual and performed to be sexy, it is also so much more. Jones touches a bit on how our MC feels when with good community - and the difference between dancing to perform and dancing for yourself. Honestly, if I take a class with a new instructor and she (I've only ever taken from femme instructors) doesn't mention the origins of the dance or the drumbeats or give credit to her teachers, I'm put off.

When our MC goes to the new dance school, we're told that she's super picky and demanding - and somehow that didn't come through in the text? She corrected movements politely, and while there was messaging that not all of the dance troupe would participate, and this turned out to be a rumor. Everyone was invited. And yes, I have been to classes where the teacher is really focused on nailing a certain movement more than just feeling the beat and dance for the sake of dance - but there was nothing about this instructor that was abusive or even really mean... so maybe this was just my misunderstanding of how the book was marketed.

One more strange thing was that the best friend ended up going to Mexico with her boyfriend's family - and I just don't know rich people like that maybe? Or would never, ever let my daughter travel abroad with another family nor accept responsibility for my child's girlfriend of 8 seconds.

Likes: the relationship between the MC and her friend, and how when she made a mistake and was selfish, she apologized.

[Kira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free physical book, the review is my own.

This was a quick easy read, nothing too amazing. It could have used some stronger editing. A lot of the book was the same thought repeated multiple times multiple ways. Also, the exact jargon for the dance moves step by step, while that could be interesting to a dancer, it was a bit much for the average reader.

It was an okay short story.

[Ann Woodbury Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slim young adult novel features the world of belly dancing--although the main conflict could easily apply to other types of dance as well as music, sports, drama, art, and so forth. Lila loves to dance and hopes to one day become a professional. While she enjoys her studio and laid-back teacher Amala, she's thrilled to be selected to train with Dana, who's on a totally different level. But a few weeks with the extremely strict, rigid Dana cause Lila stress and worry. She's learning a lot and improving her technique, but seems to have lost both fun and motivation. Teens (and adults) can relate to Lila's predicament. However, the story is so short that characters are undeveloped and solutions come too quickly. My daughter, who started belly dancing in her 20's, was surprised that any place would have multiple belly dance studios, especially for teens (where we live, it's mostly college students and adults) and that they all attend the same high school. Like me, she found Lila's concerns meaningful but the discussion and resolution brief and simplistic.

[Ms. Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book from Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review...

This book was "okay". It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. It is just stuck in that 2.5 out of a 5 star rating... mediocre, but easily could've been better. The writing style was weak, the characters were poorly developed, and the plot felt almost non-existent. I became bored a few short chapters in, but was glad that this was an easy and quick read. I wouldn't have been able to endure much more of the blandness if it was a fuller-length novel.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was definitely for young adults, maybe even middle grade. The writing was easy to read though and the main character, Lila, is easy to connect to. It's obvious she did research with belly dancing and made this believable. I would recommend this book to people that are interested in dancing. It's a short, quick read. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fiction book for reluctant readers about a teen girl who is in a belly dance troop. It's very short and simple. I was mainly interested in how the author described the belly dance world, and she did a good job.