This book pretty well had me at the cover. Like Venkatraman’s earlier novel, CLIMBING THE STAIRS (and WOW, the Spanish language cover of that book) this cover was so visually arresting, I wanted to dive into the imagery. Dance is gorgeous and graceful and — well, the sorts of things I am not. I like the cover more, because it doesn’t show the model’s face. Is she pretty? Is she hot? Who knows? Who cares! It’s not about the dancer — it’s about dance. It’s not about yet another airbrushed young adult on the cover of a young adult book – but about placing the reader in that space, allowing them to imagine themselves as dance – as a dancer.
Reading the jacket copy, I learned that this book was about someone who could have been a “former dancer,” but chose not to be. If you’re looking to be inspired by the human spirit, you’ll find that in this novel. But more, and better — if you’re looking for a novel about a real person whose hopes and dreams were nearly impossible to achieve — who then took, with fumbling hands, all that was inside of her and stretched as far as she could reach, to touch divinity – well, then, you’ll find that here, too.
Before I started this book, I didn’t know much about Buddhism, nor bharatanatyam dance, nor yoga, which is a practice of Buddhism. Within A TIME TO DANCE is information on both. Often we forget that diversity in young adult literature is not just about ethnicity or gender — diversity is also about religious faith – or lack of religious faith – too. This is a beautiful, beautiful novel in verse about courage, ability, dance and faith.
‘There are as many perfect poses as there are people.’
And Vyasa understood that yoga
is about embracing the uniqueness within.
Shiva sees perfection in every sincere effort.
He loves us despite – or maybe because –
of our differences.”p. 174 of the ARC
