Customer Reviews

Another Way to Dance

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the beginning of the story this girl named Vicki gets accepted to this school for young kids who love to dance, it is something like a Julliard for young kids. It was called School of American Ballet. Vicki has never really experienced racism before in her life. When she goes to SAB (School of American Ballet) she starts to experience it. She is one of only two African Americans at this school. She then meets this boy named Michel. HE shows her all of New York. The only thing is that he is white and Vicki is Black. His mother doesn't approve of there friendship. Towards the end Vicki really starts to learn that she has to live with the fact that she is black, and that she will have racism the rest of her life! She then feels happier then she did because she knows that no matter what she does she can't change who she is inside.
I really did like this book because it really showed me how much racism hurts African Americans. I knew that it hurt them really bad, but the way it affects them is how it helped me. I'm not racist but some people are; I think if they read this book then they would see how much there words have an affect on some people's lives! I loved this book so much that I would recommend it to anybody who wanted to see things through someone else's eyes.

This book held my interest all the way. Especially if you like dance, then this book is for you. It's the story of 14 year old Vicki Harris as she tries to fit in at a prestigious ballet school in New York City. Now you may think this should be easy for any talented dancer, but it's not. Besides the challenging classes, Vicki is one of two Black students in the program, and she must overcome the prejudices of other dancers. Despite the racist comments she hears, she is able to keep coming back, but even so, things are difficult. This book is entertaining all the way up till the end, and I highly recommend it.

Another Way to Dance takes place in a young black dancer's life, Vicki, who goes to dance with the American Ballet Theater in New York City. In New York Vicki learns from friends why she should be proud of who she is and how to forgive her parents for getting a divorce.
I really liked this book because it had to do with dancing. I am a dancer myself and could easily relate to many of the things that happened. I also like it because it showed many modern-day ways that people judge others. It also taught me that blacks are the same as everyone else and need to be treated as equals. Another Way to Dance was an interesting and fun way to learn an important lesson on judging people and how it makes them feel. If you are a dancer or interested in dancing, Another Way to Dance is the book for you.

This book was beautiful. I really like to dance and there was something about Vicki I could relate to. I know how sometimes its like being isolated when youre the only African-American or the only other African American in your ballet group. I liked the romance in the book, I was kind of suprised at how Micheal and Vicki had an intense relationship where they could just talk like regular teens. I would definately recommend this book. For it to be Martha Southgate's debut novel, it was written like she had been writing novels for years.

In this Compelling story of African American influence you become captured in the misunderstandings and mishaps of Viki's summer. As she struggles to realize why her parents recenlty split up, why she doesn't just fit in with the rest of the ballet students, and why her plain to see talent is overlooked by so many Viki rides an enourmous emotional rollercoaster, jerking her in every which way. When she meets Michael, he helps her step off the coaster and put her feet on the ground as he opens her eyes to things she had never taken the time to see. Once you pick up this book you wont be able to put it down I guarantee. Viki finds many other ways to dance in the spotlight without ballet.

Vikki Harris thinks that the summer program at the School of American Ballet will be easy. However, she is not prepared to be one of two African-American girls there. She suffers terrible racism, and she has never in her life been worked so hard. Meanwhile, her life is crumbling around her. She is crushed by her parents divorce, and her fantasies about the Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov turn out to be just fantasies after all. Her only real happiness is a new little romance with a boy from Harlem who works in a Wendy's. This book is well written and touching. It's about dancing, growing up, and dealing with prejudice and everyday problems. I recommend it to anyone who has ever experienced prejudice, thought about dancing, or who just wants to read a book that is absorbing and enjoyable.

It is a bildungsroman in which Vicky, a girl who loves ballet, learns to deal with the confusion surrounding not fitting into her environment, her parents' divorce, and how to realistically see herself and other people. In other words, she begins the process of becoming a educated black woman who knows she has choices.

First look in a dance room and all you see is thin white girls. If you look more closely, you might see a speck of black. That's how ballet is and that's what Another Way to Dance is about. Vicki Harris loves ballet and had just been accepted to a top dance school and ends up feeling like a "chip in the cookie". Her parents are divorced but that is not the focus of the book. Vicki has a lot of expectations and this book shows whether she gets them of not. My dislikes about this book were the explaining of the divorce; it could have been better, the dialogue a little more real and a little less stereotyping. But you don't notice the impact of those things. This book is a good read.

Another Way to Dance is about a fourteen-year-old African American girl, Vicki. She's been dancing for years and is one of the best in the studio where she dances. After applying and getting into an elite dance program, though, she goes to New York City for a few months to participate. Vicki stays with her mother's best friend, Hannah, with whom she develops a loving bond. Everything's great about the program, except that she's the only black dancer there, other than another girl called Debbie. Together, they deal with the racism and prejudice that gets thrown their way and deal with making it in a place where everyone else is white. With adventures to Wendy, meeting boys, and taking a look at what it's really like in the city for blacks, Vicki learns to have pride in herself and hold her head up high.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in dance or who'd like to learn a bit about dance. More importantly, though, I'd recommend it to teens who are looking for a story of inspiration, accepting who you are, and having pride.

Another Way to Dance by Martha Southgate is an intriguing story about a 14-year-old ballerina named Vicki. Vicki is one of the best dancers at her school back home in New Jersey, and to her surprise, she gets accepted in to the School of American Ballet in NYC. There, she lives with her aunt and takes classes everyday during the summer. The only aspect of Vicki's appearance that makes her different from everyone in the school is that she is African-American, except for Debbie, a girl in all of her classes that is also African-American. Vicki befriends Debbie and they both go through the troubles of being a different race in an environment they chose to join.
I recommend this book to anyone who is a dancer or can relate to the situations that Vicki deals with because it may give you another look on how it feels to be a black teenager trying to fit in with people who are like you, but are still so much different than you.