Narrow Girls on a Blue Profound Stage

CALIFORNIA, 1983. Anneliese is a young ballerina who comes of age as she is performing with a troupe of dancers ten years her senior. Immersed in the new freedom of adulthood, she is enchanted with Rebecca, the seamstress and professional costumer for the company. Anneliese's budding attraction to Rebecca surprises and confuses her, in spite of her shyness. When Rebecca flirts back, Anneliese understands there is more to life than those in her carefully controlled world had led her to believe.

Ballet, of course, is her first passion, and dancing the Romeo and Juliet pas de deux with Christopher is the highlight of her youthful experience. She throws herself into the piece, and we are lifted up along with her in Sellges lyrical prose. In these moments, Anneliese is able to transcend mere youth as she grows more and more adept at the most difficult dance techniques. Her energy, however, is distracted by two identities that seem always at odds: a daughter, and a...