heart dance
by James L. Therrian
James Therrian (2007)
ISBN 9780615135007
“Dance of the Heart” is a quick read novel of only 118 pages, however, there is much more to this story than one would expect. First of all, Therrian does a fantastic job of setting up the scenes, characters, and opening. It became very clear to me who the characters were and what role they played.
Michael Baldwin is successful and flourishing. He is well balanced between his career as a successful professional dancer and his home life with a longtime partner, David. And they just built a beautiful house on Lake Michigan. Everything is going well until his senior partner, who doesn’t like morbidity, accidentally dies.
Michael has mixed emotions about her death, but even more mixed emotions when a new dance partner, Elizabeth, replaces Margo, the deceased leading lady. Michael, admitting to being gay for as long as he can remember, finds himself extremely attracted to Elizabeth. The drama continues as Michael struggles with his emotions and finally reveals his feelings to his partner David.
Of course David, as any teammate would be, is crushed and reacts accordingly. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, being only a temporary replacement for Margo, returns to her home. Michael, with every intention in her place, was going to tell Elizabeth how she felt, however, she left before he could. This results in more mixed emotions for Michael.
“Dance of the Heart” is aptly named, because there is certainly a lot of dancing of the heart in the book. Does Michael ever tell Elizabeth how she feels? Can a gay man really fall in love with a woman? Was Michael’s crush on Elizabeth real or a fantasy? Does David move on to other lovers?
What a wonderful story! “Dance of the Heart” is a tale that shows how complicated love can be. Therrian’s story shows how we as human beings can fall into a hole of confusion when we don’t follow our true feelings. Michael’s mother, Sally, summed it up best by saying, “You can’t choose who you fall in love with, but you can choose what to do with it. In the end, it’s all up to you.”