When I was growing up, you had to look hard to find a little girl who didn’t harbor dreams of becoming a ballerina one day. While mine may have been more low-key than that of most girls, I did have pretty wallpaper with chubby ballerinas on it in multi-coloured costumes in a plethora of positions. When a belief that I was clumsy put the binders on my ballerina dreams, my love for dance went undercover. I devoured any movie prominently featuring dance and lived vicariously through Ballet Shoes. It’s no wonder I couldn’t resist reading Elizabeth White’s Christian ballerina romance Tour de Force.
White drops her Christian ballerina smack-dab in the center of a profession well known for it’s cut-throat competitiveness, sexual immorality and the fanatical dedication of its dancers (even to the point of self-harm). Gillian Kincade (Gilly) is a talented young dancer who has just made soloist with Ballet New York. When Jacob Ferrar, the artistic director of the Birmingham Ballet Theatre sees her dance, the seed of an entirely new Christian ballet is formed in his mind.
As Gilly and Jacob brainstorm the new project at a distance, a tender romance begins to bloom between them. When a disastrous first performance of a scene from the new ballet for Jacob’s board of directors casts everything into doubt, both Gilly’s career and the growing feelings between the pair reach an impasse.
Tour de Force is a fairly straightforward, sweet romance that remains rather straight-laced despite the risqué profession it portrays. The moral pitfalls of the ballet world are clearly presented while never becoming explicit. Jacob’s own sin-filled past as an unbeliever are present in guardedness and caution in his character and Gilly’s interactions with her unbelieving fellow dancers are both gentle and grace-filled while standing uncompromisingly for God’s standards.
Article comments
1 - Beth White
Thanks for a lovely, well-thought-out review, Jennifer!