Dances: A Novel

By: Nicole Cuffy

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Synopsis: A ballerina at the height of her powers becomes consumed with finding her missing brother in this &“striking debut&” (Oprah Daily).&“A compelling novel about the spiritual and bodily costs of the dogged pursuit of art.&”—Raven Leilani, author of LusterAt twenty-two years old, Cece Cordell reaches the pinnacle of her career as a ballet dancer when she&’s promoted to principal at the New York City Ballet. She&’s instantly catapulted into celebrity, heralded for her &“inspirational&” role as the first Black ballerina in the famed company&’s history. Even as she celebrates the achievement of a lifelong dream, Cece remains haunted by the feeling that she doesn&’t belong. As she waits for some feeling of rightness that doesn&’t arrive, she begins to unravel the loose threads of her past—an absent father, a pragmatic mother who dismisses Cece&’s 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 she&’s 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 ballet&’s precise structure, Dances centers around women, art, and power, and how we come to define freedom for ourselves.

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