Another Way to Dance

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

At the prestigious School of American Ballet, African American Vicki experiences subtle racism. Southgate's debut is "a poignant account of self-discovery, convincingly hopeful and steadfast in its refusal to settle for easy solutions," said PW in a starred review. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)

VOYA - Hillary Theyer

Southgate writes a powerful novel of a girl coming to terms with her identity and her love for ballet in a field where African Americans are underrepresented. Fourteen-year-old Vicki is selected to study in the prestigious School of American Ballet's summer program in New York City. She is overwhelmed by absolute love for her art and largely blind to her parents' concerns about her straightening her hair, having white friends, and lacking racial awareness. Vicki lives for ballet and has elaborate fantasies about Barishnikov, her idol. She realizes that ballet is about symmetry, and she is different, but she ignores this to pursue her dreams. During the summer, she stays with her aunt, a struggling actress, and works toward getting offered a fall position at the school. Vicki meets Stacey, the only other African-American girl in the program, and begins to date a native New Yorker who shows her another side of her culture, taking her to church and to meet his mother, a woman who gave up dancing for her family. As Vicki begins to explore her identity as a dancer and an African American, an ugly incident with some other dancers makes her realize that she cannot ignore her race no matter how well she dances. Vicki is a realistic character, chasing a dream while all the adults around her try to keep her grounded in reality. This novel is a worthy follow-up for readers of Cynthia Voight's Come A Stranger (Atheneum, 1986) and a complement to other novels about ballet. VOYA Codes: 4Q 4P J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses, Broad general YA appeal, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9).

School Library Journal

Grades 6-9
Vicki Harris, 14, is one of two African Americans accepted into the summer program at New York City's School of American Ballet. She is a compulsive dancer and feels ready for the competition of this time-consuming endeavor. She is not ready, however, to face the racism within the program and begins to doubt her ability. Vicki makes friends with the other black student and experiences her first love with Michael, a black teen from Harlem. Her obsessive adoration of Baryshnikov leads to disappointment when she finally meets him. Vicki spends her summer with her Aunt Hannah, who becomes a strong adult role model in place of her divorced parents. The story reads smoothly, the characters are well drawn, and readers feel satisfaction when Vicki accepts herself as a good, but not great ballet dancer. The author has written a fine first novel dealing with the challenge of trying to break into a profession that does not make much room for African Americans. She has also given readers a portrait of a young woman striving for perfection and, ultimately, feeling good about herself. - Judy R. Johnston, Auburn High School, WA

Kirkus Reviews

A probing ballet story about a young dancer who is untangling the differences between blending into the corps de ballet and subsuming her own individuality.

Vicki Harris is in love with Mikhail Baryshnikov. She's thrilled to be accepted into the summer program at the prestigious School of American Ballet—where she might run into Misha—but she's also worried: The school is extremely demanding. Vicki is one of two African-Americans in the program, pronounced the other "chip in the cookie," by sassy Stacey. They support each other in their rigorous classes but suspect that no matter how hard they work or how good they are, the subtle racism that pervades classical ballet and therefore the school has no room for anyone at the top who isn't white. Vicki has her own prejudices: Swept up in her ideal of the perfect ballerina, she has straightened her hair (over her mother's objections) and wears it in a bun; she's embarrassed at the "loud and crazy" antics of a group of black girls on the subway and dislikes the oversize clothing of "homies." She faces these prejudices while coping with the rigors of school, family relationships, and her growing feelings for a boy in this compelling first novel about growing up, a summer of dance, and the haunting, competitive world of classical ballet. Readers will be rooting for Vicki all the way.