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17 июля 2018 г. 17:34

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4

It was generally nice, as long as I don’t imagine there are lots of fiction books about Irish dancing. Step Sisters is a kids story (most of those ID books that I have found are so), and pretty simple as to the style of writing, but anyway, you may find a glimpse of yourself in one of the girl characters, the ambitious Tanya who wants to get medals and titles, or the good-hearted Siobhán who does not really care about being a winner.
When I first came to Irish dancing classes (in the age of 24), I did not think about competitions. Well, perhaps I did, looking through some impressive photos of solo dresses, but for one reason or another I remained a non-competing dancer. I should say a significant apprehension was letting down my school, but in fact, I have never believed in dance competitions at all – and neither does my teacher. Probably it is different with children. I am not sure if there are many dancers in Ireland who first begin their training as adults, when you don’t have so much time or strength or desire to prove anything to anybody. That’s why I was more sympathetic with Siobhán whose motivation may seem less obvious than Tanya’s. Unfortunately, Siobhán is only the supporting character, and the story deals mostly with her aspiring and fast-progressing friend.
When I was a child, nobody ever pushed me. If I had such a purposeful mother as Andrea, I guess I could have been a better pianist now. I admit that I don’t really know that sense of victory Andrea is speaking of, and now I shrink from an opportunity to experience that because I don’t want to end up with sense of defeat. Having no trophies because you just don’t compete is much more consolatory than failing. There were moments when I almost envied Tanya, since as well as I did not ever do anything that I did not want, I was pretty much left to myself with my results. It would be nice to have a close person not only natively proud of you, but also reminding that you can do better. Of course it should be all about being happy, rather than being a champion, but Andrea’s idea of happiness was exactly getting to the top. And honestly, I don’t assume someone like her is going to reject that idea once and for all in that Hollywood-like manner described in the finale of the book.
Step Sisters might be more twisted and also more detailed and descriptive as regards the girls’ feelings and impressions. Towards the end, the storytelling seemed a bit rushed. Tanya’s brilliant ascent to the Worlds in less than a year does not look very convincing, either. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant light read and a peek into An Com routine.