Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

A coming of age graphic novel about two teenage contemporary dancers in Bucharest: one falling out of love with dance while grasping with a hidden relationship with her girlfriend, the other struggling with her own sexuality and very strong feelings toward a teacher.

I enjoyed this book a lot.

Ana is a contemporary dancer who is absolutely brilliant, but her size (she is not wafer-thin) has sidelined her for classical ballet. She's been dating a classical dancer for three years, but Carina has had no desire to let their relationship out of the closet. It's a...really bad relationship. Carina demands Ana's time, calling her at all hours of the day to help her when her own dance partner flakes, while providing no support to Ana at all.

Sara, however, is one of the best contemporary dancers the school has ever reproduced. Plucked from the classical track a few years ago by Marlena, a classical-turned-contemporary dancer, she's been struggling with feelings towards her teacher. She loves Marlena. She wants Marlena to know her love. She knows it's wrong. But she doesn't quite know what it's like to be queer.

I loved how Ana and Sara's friendship forms, first as tentative roommates, and then to full-blown friends. In the world of dance, queerness is there but one where different types of dance are more open to differences in people—the rigidity and casual abusiveness of classical ballet is portrayed with stark detail here. I liked the idea that contemporary dance helps break away from ingrained abuse practices, with teachers who want to help and encourage their students, who embrace difference and experimentation (there are contrasting panels between Marlena's teaching and the classical dancers).

And I also loved how the first-love is portrayed, and how the student-falling-for-the-teacher trope was also handled. It was a well-done comic, with loving portrayal of the queer scene in Bucharest.