A Time to Dance

March 3, 2014
Venkatraman (Island’s End) again follows the maturation of a passionate and serious young woman, this time in a verse novel set in contemporary Chennai, India. After teenage classical dancer Veda loses part of her right leg, her teacher doesn’t believe she can succeed even after Veda is outfitted with a prosthesis. Veda joins a new studio, where her perfectionism and determination clash with her instructors’ philosophy of emotional and religious expression. “You dance like a demon,” her attractive young tutor tells her, envying Veda’s strength while inadvertently highlighting her spiritual shortcomings. Aided by a cast of stock characters—a supportive grandmother, a disapproving but loving mother, and a wise older mentor—Veda sets aside her longing for applause and develops the “three kinds of love.... A healthy love of one’s physical self,/ compassion for others,/ and an experience of God.” Veda’s questions about the nature of God, her growth as an artist while performing a Buddhist tale of grief and acceptance, and her transcendent experiences linked to Shiva, often portrayed as a dancer, lend depth to her spiritual journey. Ages 12–up. Agent: Rob Weisbach, Rob Weisbach Creative Management.

Starred review from April 1, 2014
Flowing free verse tells the story of a teenage dancer in Chennai, India, who loses a leg and re-learns how to dance. As a child, Veda climbs a stepladder in the temple to reach up and trace the dancers' feet carved into granite with her fingertips. Shiva's the god of dance and creator of universes, and a priest teaches Veda to "feel Shiva's feet moving" inside her chest, as her heartbeat. Years later, as a teen, she wins a Bharatanatyam dance competition and relishes the applause. Then a van accident leads to the amputation of her right leg below the knee. Venkatraman weaves together several themes so elegantly that they become one: Veda's bodily exertion, learning to dance with her prosthetic leg; her process of changing her dance technique to be emotional and spiritual as well as physical; and all the rest of Veda's life, including young love, grief, insecurity and a dawning awareness of class issues. The fluid first-person verse uses figurative speech sparingly, so when it appears--"A bucket of gold melting from the sky"--it packs a punch. Veda's no disabled saint; awkwardness and jealousy receive spot-on portrayals as she works to incorporate Hinduism and Buddhism, life experience and emotion into her dancing. When she does, her achievement is about being centered, not receiving accolades. A beautiful integration of art, religion, compassion and connection. (author's note) (Verse fiction. 13-17)

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from April 1, 2014

Gr 6 Up-Despite the pressure from her parents to become an engineer, Veda dreams of being a dancer. She studies the classical Indian dance, Bharatanatyam, and has reached the competition finals. Impressed with her graceful lines and skill, the judges award her first place, and Veda is ecstatic. After posing for pictures, she is injured in an accident on the way home and her leg has to be amputated below the right knee. Devastated, she lies in her hospital bed devoid of hope until one day her doctor introduces her to a specialist from America. He sparks optimism in her because he understands that she needs to dance. Eventually Veda receives a prosthetic limb that allows her to walk and dance once again. She finds a new teacher for whom dance is more than a technical performance; it is an art form. Veda is placed with a student teacher, Govinda, who not only supports her as she relearns and strengthens her dancing but also becomes her friend. This exceptional novel, told entirely in verse, captures beautifully the emotions of a girl forced to deal with a number of challenges and how she overcomes them on her way to becoming a confident young woman. It is sure to appeal to readers who are also trying to find their place in the world.-Laura Fields Eason, Henry F. Moss Middle School, Bowling Green, KY

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2014
Grades 7-12 *Starred Review* Veda lives with her warm, traditional parents and sweet grandmother, Paati. She blissfully expresses herself through dance, even though engineering is her expected career goal. When tragedy strikes, she struggles to find her rhythm using her new, severely diminished physicality. In Venkatraman's delectably scented, sensual world, lyrically told through verse and through Veda, life is illuminated as a beautiful celebration of doing what comes naturally as well as one is able. Veda's awakening of her gift throughout her altered body and revolutionary prosthesis provides a spiritually uplifting premise. As her dance instructor and love interest, Govinda, persuades her, Our ancient scriptures say the best dancers must have ten talents: balance, agility, steadiness, grace, intelligence, dedication, hard work, the ability to sing well, to speak well, and to see deeply and expressively. You've only lost the first three talents. Only for a while. The acclaimed author of Climbing the Stairs (2008) deftly shapes readers' comprehension of physical ability into a new arc of understanding. To even have a passing thought that Veda is disabled, rather than differently abled, would be utter madness. Set amid a cardamom-, melted butter-, and semolina sojji-infused landscape, the novel's emotional expression and accompanying music impel the reader to share Veda's belief that Shiva dances everywhere. In everyone. In everything. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)