The Dancer Series

The Dancer is a simple story of a young woman in love, a young woman who is trying to find out who she is. While the story is simple, the manner in which it unfolds is anything but. And sometimes the ride is so wild it has everyone, including the Author, hanging on to their seats. The Dancer starts on the Stage and that's where it ends. In between, it goes to the beach, to an Artist's Studio, to a Native Village. We come to understand that the Artist's Studio and Native Village are other worlds. Will the Dancer find true love? Will she find her place in the World? Welcome to the wonderful, if somewhat strange and chaotic world of The Dancer.Series: 5 Books – Fantasy – Other Worlds – Love Story Ease: Very Easy; Target Audience – Everybody who is young at heart and who loves stories about those who are in love and about community.Rating G; Reading Level Very Easy 5th Grade; Longest Word: Categorization. Sometimes she felt like she was living on a yo-yo. Flown towards the ground, then hovering there – a few inches away from the ground – before being spun back the other way and flown towards the sky, hovering there and then flown back towards the ground. From one extreme to the other – that was her life. That was her love life also between Ramon and Raul, so different, so alike. Some days she couldn't decide between the two of them. Other days, who cared? They were both Italian, and she liked Italian men. And so, the Dancer's life is very normal. But then magic comes into the scene. Whose magic? Is it good or bad? Whatever this magic is, wherever it comes from, it turns the Dancers life upside-down.

In the second story in this series, Dancer, a Chief, a Shaman, a God who is a horse, and Dancer's other close friends must heal the holes that have developed between the worlds. These holes have developed because Dancer and her friends opened them by using their magic. Of course, their magic alone wasn't enough to open these holes. Their magic had acted on their desires, their desires for things to be different. Once the holes were opened, Dancer and her friends continued to use them, which made the holes larger. But now people are falling through who have no magic to fall back through the other way. People are falling through unintentionally. And somehow that had to stop. This story is told from Jamil, the Artist's, perspective. So, I thought it appropriate to include a short story about another artist at the end. It's titled, The Artist. Creative title, I know. This artist has always wanted to be an artist, but has to give up his dream because he can't make enough money at it and because it's not an accepted profession. Eventually, he does become an artist. However, there's one thing he cannot paint – a sunset. And he won't be able to paint a sunset until he understands the beauty behind a sunset.

In book three, The Dancer becomes the Dancer Magnifique. And the story's focus is more on her daughter, who is now The Dancer. She curtsied to herself in the mirror, and as she did so, her reflection in the mirror curtsied back to her. She tried it again, and without fail, the mirror curtsied back to her. What a marvelous invention she thought, a curtsying mirror. Of course it was just a normal mirror, but she liked being fanciful and pretending that it was a special mirror, one which obeyed her every command. She curtsied to the mirror once more. Then fully assured of her command over the mirror, she walked away. But the figure in the mirror didn't move. She couldn't believe she was not in control of her special mirror, so she just kept walking out the door, even though her reflection did not follow. Besides she was late for dinner, her mother would be expecting her. The Dancer tells her mother. The Shaman, the Dancer's Grandmother, insists that the Dancer must fix the mirror all by herself. Will anyone defy the Shaman and help the Dancer fix the mirror? How would she even start to fix it?

A friend who read The Dancer, said she felt like she was right in the story. When the Dancer danced, she danced. But perhaps you don't relate to the Dancer, there are plenty of other main characters you can relate to. There's the Dancer, who is now called the Dancer Magnifique, or just Magnifique for short. There's her husband, Straight-Spear, the Chief's son. He dances on his horse, Rides-Like-Thunder. Rides-Like-Thunder is a god. Magnifique and Straight-Spear's daughter is now Dancer, following in her mother's footsteps. However, she will dance atop Rides-Like-Thunder, while her mother will not. There's the Shaman and the Director. Their first meeting didn't go well, as she swung Dancer's shoes at him and knocked him out. But now they're buddy-buddy. They act as Grandparents to Dancer. And there's Ramon and Raul – Magnifique's boyfriends before she met Straight-Spear. Now they're buddy-buddy. In the fourth story, Dancer is left all alone. She is old enough to be all alone. But she's used to being among several adults, whom she can rely on for help, most of the time. She doesn't need their help, but just in case. All the adults in her life have left, including Rides-Like-Thunder. They've all gone to other worlds for various reasons. They will be back, but for she is alone. And it's enough to make the Author cry (I forgot to mention that the Author is one of the main characters.) She was all alone, so she did what she always did – she danced. She danced for joy, she danced for strength, she danced for sorrow, she danced for weariness. She danced because she didn't know what else to do. She had been dancing ever since they left. What had it been, 7, maybe 8 days now? She didn't know. At some point, she would fall exhausted, asleep, and stop dancing. But not yet. She felt she could go on for ages. Rated G; Reading level very easy 5th grade; Longest word - categorization

Dancer IV introduced two new main characters – Salmon and his sister Buttterfly. Salmon can ride skipping rocks. Butterfly can shimmer through walls. Hey, it's a magical series, so why not. Salmon, though loses his confidence in his ability to skip and ride rocks. His girlfriend, Dancer is encouraging him to try again. He wants nothing to do with it. But somehow he has to get his confidence back. Butterfly has disappeared. Walks-Like-Thunder the horse god, the Director, and the Shaman have left for business on another world. But they didn't take Butterfly with them. As the Author says, "Maybe she fell into a wormhole and is now back at her old home. She did miss it. Nah, that wouldn't be it – wormholes are too normal to have any place in this story." Ramon and Raul have all of a sudden started weeping uncontrollably. Nobody knows why. They haven't been moody since they and Magnifique were young. And they never wept uncontrollably before – at least not to Magnifique's knowledge. How will this all be resolved? And what's the surprise ending to this series?