A friend who read The Dancer, said she felt like she was right in the story. When the Dancer danced, she danced. But perhaps you don't relate to the Dancer, there are plenty of other main characters you can relate to. There's the Dancer, who is now called the Dancer Magnifique, or just Magnifique for short. There's her husband, Straight-Spear, the Chief's son. He dances on his horse, Rides-Like-Thunder. Rides-Like-Thunder is a god. Magnifique and Straight-Spear's daughter is now Dancer, following in her mother's footsteps. However, she will dance atop Rides-Like-Thunder, while her mother will not.There's the Shaman and the Director. Their first meeting didn't go well, as she swung Dancer's shoes at him and knocked him out. But now they're buddy-buddy. They act as Grandparents to Dancer. And there's Ramon and Raul - Magnifique's boyfriends before she met Straight-Spear. Now they're buddy-buddy. In the fourth story, Dancer is left all alone. She is old enough to be all alone. But she's used to being among several adults, whom she can rely on for help, most of the time. She doesn't need their help, but just in case. All the adults in her life have left, including Rides-Like-Thunder. They've all gone to other worlds for various reasons. They will be back, but for she is alone. And it's enough to make the Author cry (I forgot to mention that the Author is one of the main characters.) She was all alone, so she did what she always did - she danced. She danced for joy, she danced for strength, she danced for sorrow, she danced for weariness. She danced because she didn't know what else to do. She had been dancing ever since they left. What had it been, 7, maybe 8 days now? She didn't know. At some point, she would fall exhausted, asleep, and stop dancing. But not yet. She felt she could go on for ages. Rated G; Reading level very easy 5th grade; Longest word - categorization
