Book Review: Inside Tap by Anita Feldman

Title: Inside Tap: Technique and Improvisation for Today's Tap Dancer
Author: Anita Feldman
Source: Purchased

Format: Paperback
Publisher: Princeton Book Company (Dance Horizons)

Release date: May 1, 1995

Goodreads 

Synopsis from Goodreads:

This comprehensive guide to tap offers traditional and improvisational instruction for the beginner and new, innovative material for the intermediate and advanced dancer. It reviews the basics, and then progresses through creativity and musicality, rhythm, dynamics, and syncopation. Traditional steps such as the Shim Sham Shimmy are taught as well as contemporary tap. Easy-to-follow descriptions are given for each step.

What I thought:

I enjoy countless amazing tap dance tutorials online, but I also wanted some books. That's when I found Inside Tap by Anita Feldman. No, it's not a dictionary, but it is a very decent book focused on creativity and, as the title says, technique and improvisation. Throughout reading it is clear that Feldman presents tap through an instrumental lens. 

Even from the beginning there is a lot of encouragement for the reader to experiment. But make no mistake, there is a plethora of combinations that use the steps outlined in the key. Speaking of which, the key is in the beginning –which I like as opposed to flipping to the back and trying to hold a lot of pages open. I also like that the step acronyms give brief explanations on preforming them rather than just listing them. 

For the combinations, most of the earlier ones are simple enough. There were often certain techniques or methods done with the simpler steps. For example, the Basic Rhythm Exercise on page 44, that plays with divisions, is made up of multiple Paddle and Rolls. (After all dig, draw, step, and heel is pretty easy for me to do.) Later dances are a little more intermediate concerning step complexity, timing, and weight shifts. But, again, Feldman lays it out it a simplistic way breaking it down with tips to go along with those tricky steps. Combination instructions were spaced out nice, neat, and line by line in each chapter. The best way I can describe it is to quote from pages VII–VIII:

The notation for the combinations throughout the book is in five (and occasionally six) lines that go across the page:

1 the direction or other important information

2 which foot

3 the steps

4 the counts

5 dynamics (accents, crescendo or decrescendo, when applicable)

6 musical notation (only included occasionally for practice)

As for the rest of the writing, it’s straight forward and flows nicely without getting too repetitive.  And lastly, I really appreciate the few pictures that are in here. But there were a few in particular that were too dark in terms of leg placement (basically it was monochrome, and sometimes the clothes blended into the dark background). But then again, the magic is more in the text which provides ample descriptions.

Although this is my first tap tutorial book, overall, I enjoyed my reading and look forward to dancing through more of Inside Tap. For now, I recommend checking it out, even if you’re just a hobbyist.

Thanks for reading! 

ARC Review: Devil is Fine by John Vercher

Title: Devil is Fine

Author: John Vercher

Source: Celadon Books

Format: Paperback ARC

Publisher: Celadon Books

Release date (expected): June 18 2024

Goodreads     Celadon (Book Page) 

Synopsis From Celadon:

Reeling from the sudden death of his teenage son, our narrator receives a letter from an attorney: he has just inherited a plot of land from his estranged grandfather. He travels to a beach town several hours south of his home with the intention of immediately selling the land. But upon inspection, what lies beneath the dirt is much more than he can process in the throes of grief. As a biracial Black man struggling with the many facets of his identity, he’s now the owner of a former plantation passed down by the men on his white mother’s side of the family.

Vercher deftly blurs the lines between real and imagined, past and present, tragedy and humor, and fathers and sons in this story of discovery—and a fight for reclamation—of a painful past. With the wit of Paul Beatty’s The Sellout and the nuance of Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, Devil Is Fine is a darkly funny and brilliantly crafted dissection of the legacies we leave behind and those we inherit.

What I thought:

When I finished reading Devil is Fine by John Vercher, I had so many initial thoughts that it made it difficult to summarize what I felt about it. And I didn't even know where to start.

So I guess I'll start with the story. It revolves around the unnamed narrator's identity and the throes of that. While it mostly seemed to pertain to his professional life and having to deal with owning a plantation, it was also carefully woven into a story about a man dealing with grief and somehow coming to terms with where he is in life. Of course it was not a smooth road since there were odd and disconcerting experiences along the way. He was aided by the occasional words of wisdom from the more frequent characters, Freddy and Clarence. A bar owner and frequent bar customer respectively, their own life and experiences tended to add a different angle to what the narrator was going through. On the flip side, there were a lot of times where I wondered just why he was doing what he was, but some of that was answered much later on. 

Another thing I noticed was the writing. It's in first person and begins shortly before the burial of the narrator's  son, Malcolm. From the beginning to the end, the main character often thinks of and addresses him while chronicling his ongoing life. Sometimes he would wonder what Malcolm would say if he was there during a conversation, for example. Along with the main character's musings, it is mainly through occasional chapters in between that showed who Malcolm was growing up. I honestly wasn't sure how I felt about these chapters at first. But, about half way through, I felt it both added to and left breathing room from the tension that was building throughout the book. Some of that was also probably from the general back and forth of the current time and various past memories from the narrator's own life and experiences. 

Speaking of that tension, I was constantly on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. Some of the story was predictable for me. But there were parts that weren't at all. The conclusion and ending are an examples of both of these feelings. Based on a few pages of conversations beforehand, I had thought that a particular scene was going to go a certain way. But I was wrong. Instead it was rather mundane (for the lack of more spoiler-y but probably better words I could use). It is at this point the character growth is fully realized with many truths coming to light. Even being a little sad and grim, overall it definitely felt more in line and satisfactory with the way the bulk of the story was written.  So I was somewhat happy to be wrong.  As for the last pages, the end? Well, it was a tear jerker.

As a whole, I truly liked Devil is Fine. The surreal nature of it, dialogue, complicated relationships, and even the tougher, more serious tones mixed with some lighter ones. All that to say, it became a page turner and I really enjoyed reading it.

I received an ARC copy of this book from Celadon Books for this review.

Thanks for reading!

ARC Review: The Manicurist's Daughter by Susan Lieu

Title: The Manicurist's Daughter

Author: Susan Lieu

Source: Celadon

Format: Paperback ARC

Publisher: Celadon

Release date: March 12 2024

Goodreads    Celadon (Book Page)

Synopsis From Celadon

An emotionally raw memoir about the crumbling of the American Dream and a daughter of refugees who searches for answers after her mother dies during plastic surgery.

Susan Lieu has long been searching for answers. About her family’s past and about her own future. Refugees from the Vietnam War, Susan’s family escaped to California in the 1980s after five failed attempts. Upon arrival, Susan’s mother was their savvy, charismatic North Star, setting up two successful nail salons and orchestrating every success—until Susan was eleven. That year, her mother died from a botched tummy tuck. After the funeral, no one was ever allowed to talk about her or what had happened.

For the next twenty years, Susan navigated a series of cascading questions alone—why did the most perfect person in her life want to change her body? Why would no one tell her about her mother’s life in Vietnam? And how did this surgeon, who preyed on Vietnamese immigrants, go on operating after her mother’s death? Sifting through depositions, tracking down the surgeon’s family, and enlisting the help of spirit channelers, Susan uncovers the painful truth of her mother, herself, and the impossible ideal of beauty.

The Manicurist’s Daughter is much more than a memoir about grief, trauma, and body image. It is a story of fierce determination, strength in shared culture, and finding your place in the world.

What I thought:

I tend to like memoirs anyway, but I really liked The Manicurists Daughter by Susan Lieu. From the prologue (which I later realized was an excellent summary), to the writing that drew me in, I found this memoir to be an enjoyable read.

It's essentially Lieu's journey to get answers about her mother. And I want emphasize journey. For every vague lead, there seemed to be even more questions that needed to be addressed. Intertwined with this was also her process of eventually creating performances inspired by her quest. When she finally did get some answers, and things began falling in place, I could see how and where each chapter's contents connected. This not only led up to her performance of 140 LBS: How Beauty Killed My Mother, but also the memoir's end. Which I might add, ends on a confident, understanding, and hopeful note.  There's probably a lot more I could mention but I think the synopsis does a well enough job showing what The Manicurist's Daughter is all about.

As for the writing, I found myself on the typical rollercoaster of emotions. There were times that were heart wrenching and sad, to happy and joyful. Along with the inclusion of Vietnamese, the descriptions were lively and vivid. Overall, it was a rather nice pace. 

Like I said, I found my read enjoyable and I really liked it. I don't have much to say unfortunately. But that's only because, for me, The Manicurist's Daughter is of those memoirs that you just have to start reading, get into it, and see for yourself.

I received an ARC copy of this book from Celadon for this review.

Thanks for reading!