Another way to dance Book

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.