Dance Jam Productions
Celise DownsYoung adult
Available from Gemini Mojo Press
ISBN: 0-9752907-1-1
September 2004
| Mataya, or Mattie as her friends call her, goes to high school and works at Rhythm Station, a dance studio. Her favorite show is Dance Jam Productions, and she, Ren, and Mici watch it religiously. So when a contest for the next DJP dancers come up, she and Ren want in. But Mattie has a problem with the contest: it requires a partner. Her assigned partner is Jarek, a handsome, young man she recently met through his aunt, who owns the studio she works at. She’s surprisingly comfortable with Jarek, despite the fact that she’s usually uncomfortable around members of the opposite sex and prefers not to be touched by anyone, which isn’t possible while being dance partners. But she has secrets she wants to keep, so she won’t let Jarek get any closer than necessary.
Jarek can sense quite a bit of Mataya, despite the seemingly effortless way her face becomes unreadable. He realizes she’s not like usual girls, and though he guesses it’ll be difficult to just become her friend, much less more, she’s worth the effort. Dance Jam Productions was just the right mix of adult and young adult. The characters dealt largely with fairly common teenager issues, yet weren’t depicted as naïve or particularly self-obsessed. It was very realistic, even though Mataya’s life was extraordinary. Mataya was the complete focus of the story, so much so I only just got to know Jarek, but that made sense for this book. The only thing I found a bit odd was Mataya’s reaction as a child to a trauma; I’ve never heard of children at that age reacting in such a way. (I’d be more specific, but I don’t want to give anything away.) Mataya was a likeable character, determined to keep parts of herself separate from friends, yet not as standoffish as I’d have thought. And because the story and point-of-view was almost entirely focused on her, getting to know Mataya was easy. And I enjoyed her friend Ren as a secondary character. I’d have been more satisfied with a "I think I could love Jarek" than the actual admission of love, but it was a sweet ending. Dance Jam Productions would make a great read for a teenaged girl.
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Tara Black |
