#7 Dancer

I think this short story is about finding your home spiritually, not physical. Dancer is about a girl who’s been pushed around different foster homes and is by the agency people defined as a sociopathic. She just have her little plastic bag with personal stuff and it make sense that she never haven’t had a home for while.

I’ve learned that the dreams are the subconsciousness way of speaking and sometimes you should take that seriously. She said once that she was dreaming about being chased by a man with a knife and nobody could hear her screaming for help (p. 22). I would say that means she feels that she totally alone and has nobody who loves and protects her (like parents should do). About screaming without anyone hearing, it it’s a sign for feeling alone. How is the girl supposed to know that she was finally in good hand in a nice family when was already been moved several times and when she was only a kid?

On page 22 her foster parent tells how she “seemed like she was all full up with anger and scaredness”. We have no idea of what she has been through before she came to their home and obviously she doesn’t want to talk about it. But the fact that she tried to kill their cat (p. 23) tells us it’s something going on in her head we either can control or understand.

We are told on page 23 that she is most believable an Assiniboine girl, but they are not sure (what makes me wonder even more about her background). Anyway, she falls in love with the powwow dance. In the beginning she is just dancing for herself and her behavior in daily life slowly changes to the better. She is not suddenly laughing all the time or anything, but she seems to be calmer and has a new confidence.

It’s pretty clear to me that she has found something in her life she can trust and love. She is suddenly more positive and motivated. No longer tries to kill their animals and she is hanging out with the other kids when they are coming home from school. Even the nightmares have stopped.

So, the point is; this is not an adventure where she became the queen of school or anything. But something maybe even more important; she finds an inner peace. She finds a place she can feel happy or “run away” too.

I believe that’s why Molly and Clarissa with many years between them are the same age when they were dancing. It’s not about how many years you have existed on this earth, it’s about reaching this place both of them have reached. To meet the “old Eagle woman”.