A middle-grade novel about ballet and social anxiety.
Dancing on the Inside
Twelve-year-old Jenny Spark longs to be a ballet dancer. But in her first ever class, she suffers a crippling panic attack. She's terrified to practice in front of the other kids, and as for actually performing for an audience? Forget it.
Yet Jenny refuses to give up her dream, finding a way to observe ballet classes without participating, while practising in the safety of her home.
Then Jenny meets her polar opposite: Ara Reyes, a bold, spontaneous, and accident-prone girl who longs for the spotlight but is overlooked in favour of the school's star performer.
The girls' friendship blossoms as they help each other discover their real talents. Ara's dancing takes a leap forward, and Jenny reveals a hidden gift for choreography. With the support of the school's newest teacher, Jenny's original ballet might just make it on stage... but will she?
Acclaim for the story...
Independent Publisher Book Award Winner
(Gold Medal)
Reader Views Reviewer Choice Award 2012
Midwest Book Review:
"Dancing On the Inside is a fine and very much recommended read for younger readers who may be facing stage fright themselves.”
Who is Glen C. Strathy?
Glen C. Strathy has been an actor, a teacher, and since 1999 a professional writer. He is the author of the IPPY award-winning middle-grade novel, Dancing on the Inside, co-author of a New York Times Bestselling business book, and spent over a decade as a freelance writer and creative writing teacher. Since 2008, his website, www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com has offered tips and advice to aspiring authors. But before any of that, at a young age, he became an avid reader of science fiction. Classic works of space opera and science fiction adventure from the 1950s and 1960s percolated in the back of his head, eventually becoming the inspiration his more recent fiction. Glen lives with his wife and daughter in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.