Dances

At twenty-two years old, Cece Cordell reaches the pinnacle of her career as a ballet dancer when shes promoted to principal at the New York City Ballet. Shes instantly catapulted into celebrity, heralded for her inspirational role as the first Black ballerina in the famed companys history. Even as she celebrates the achievement of a lifelong dream, Cece remains haunted by the feeling that she doesnt belong. As she waits for some feeling of rightness that doesnt arrive, she begins to unravel the loose threads of her pastan absent father, a pragmatic mother who dismisses Ceces ambitions, and a missing older brother who stoked her childhood love of ballet but disappeared to deal with his own demons.

Soon after her promotion, Cece is faced with a choice that has the potential to derail her career and shatter the life shes cultivated for herself, sending her on a pilgrimage to both find her brother and reclaim the parts of herself lost in the grinding machinery of the traditional ballet world.

Written with spellbinding beauty and ballets precise structure,Dancescenters around women, art, and power, and how we come to define freedom for ourselves.

Hardcover, May 16th 2023