The Plot: Padma Venkatraman's A Time to Dance (2014) tells the story of a Bharatanatyam dance prodigy, Veda, who lives in India. The verse novel opens with a prologue poem entitled "Temple of the Dancing God" that describes Veda's first encounter with a bronze statue of Shiva, God of dance; a priest in the temple explains to her that she only has to look within and around her to see God "danc[ing] within all He creates" (2). The story then moves forward to an older Veda who is getting ready to dance in the Bharatanatyam dance competition. After winning the competition with her "flawless technique" and "skillful mastery over her body" (23), Veda is injured in a car accident and her right leg must be amputated from the knee down. Devastated by this loss, she faces the possibility that she will never dance again. With the help of her prosthesis, Veda becomes determined to continue dancing. When her old dance teacher refuses to continue to work with her, her grandmother Paati encourages her to try to work with Dr. Dhanam, a different kind of dance teacher who focuses on abhinaya, or emotional expression (123). With the help of Dhanam akka, the doctor who creates her new prosthetic leg, and her new friend and dance teacher Govinda, Veda relearns dance, as well as lessons in acceptance and peace.The Poetry: Venkatraman's verse novel is told entirely through free verse poems that range in length from one to five pages. The poems are primarily made up of plain, every day language. Each poem is clearly written to move the narrative forward, and there is little time spent focusing on the intricacies of language. There are a few lyrical moments where the beauty of language and line are apparent. For example, in the poem "The Color of Music" Venkatraman uses sensory imagery and lyricism to describe the landscape and her experience of God.
The Page: In A Time to Dance, like many verse novels for young readers, the author places a heavier focus on the narrative than she does on the use of poetic devices and techniques. The author primarily makes use of the space and pause that the verse novel naturally creates through line break. While some critics might find this to be a significant weakness in the work, I would argue that Venkatraman's use of the verse novel is a valid and useful choice because space and pause (even if they are the only elements of "poetry" in the verse novel) require reader engagement in a way that traditional prose does not.A Time to Dance told an engrossing story. I give Venkatraman's verse novel four stars.
