Witness to the League of Blond Hip Hop Dancers by Donna Allegra

A novella and 11 stories, widely published author and dancer Donna Allegra presents a lyrical and stirring portrait of black lesbians set against the backdrop of West African, jazz, and hip-hop dance. In each story readers inhabit the skin of women who live for dance, women who work and love in a world in which bodies are disrobed and constantly on parade but where lesbian erotics are rarely spoken. The title novella, 'Witness to the League of Blond Hip-Hop Dancers,' not only explores these dynamics but also tackles racism and the commodification of the black body as two African-American women vie for a spot in a mostly white dance company. 'Me and Mrs. Jones' chronicles a bittersweet affair between a jazz dancer and a self-described 'omnisexual' Southern woman. In the poignant and melodic 'Dance of the Cranes,' a lesbian returns to stand her ground in the New York African dance scene she was driven from by homophobia. Throughout, we meet women fraught with uncertainty, women at a crossroads. But for all these lesbians, women come first in importance--an uncommon stance in the new mythology that paints black women as self-sacrificing towers of strength waiting to exhale.