The Dancer

Ashley Esteva

GSR 102

I absolutely love this short story. It is beautifully told with a kind of relatable quality that reminds me on my Abuela telling me stories. This is one of my favorite. It has a sort of indescribable feeling of warmth and enveloping love and tradition to it. I admire the narrator telling the story because it was done with innocence and honesty. This woman has opened up her home to in need children and is graciously trying to help others in her community. She takes in Clarissa even though she knows the little girl has had a rough past. She allows the small one to talk about her feelings when she is scared or when she feels the need to but the woman never forces her to talk about what she is feeling. I really admire the woman for having such an open heart for this child. After all she has no investment in the child and if she wanted to she could have her removed form her from for trying to kill the cat or not being a cohesive member of her family.  The woman tries to get Clarissa to be part of the family and feel comfortable interacting with the other members of the family.

Innocently enough the woman, in the effort to try and help Clarissa feel more like a member of the family, brings her to a powwow and the change in the little girl is so startling.  It was magical to see how much the little girl loved and felt so connected to the music and was able to grow as a person through learning to dance and feel the spirit when she danced.

I think it was beautiful how she told the story and how the young girl’s life was so beautifully transformed when she danced. When she watched her elders dance she absorbed all of the information and heritage and tradition.

I was completely blown away however when, near the end of the story, the young girl begins dancing and embraces the spirit and dances with Molly she is transformed into a beautiful elegant dancer far beyond her years. Through her heritage she is able to escape her troubled past and is able to become so much more through her dancing. She is able to be her true self and fit into the self she should have always been.