Yoruba Girl Dancing

Yoruba Girl Dancing is a story of a young girl who was being raised in the heart of a large, warm, vibrant extended family in post WW II Lagos, Nigeria being transported suddenly to rural England to attend school. 6 year old Remi is brought to England at her father's behest and unceremoniously dropped off at school (abandoned would not be too strong a word) to be educated as an English girl. She's the only Black girl in her school, and she endures the prejudice and ignorance of her teachers, other adults, and some of her schoolmates. Luckily, Remi has a strong spirit and a few people who are on her side, so she adapts to school, makes friends, and excels. The novel follows her progress through primary and secondary school to graduation as a period of exile that resolves into a kind of homecoming.

Remi is in the English literary tradition of little girls who are left to fend for themselves among strangers and grow up to be smart, talented, witty and beloved. Remi's case is a little different, since she is not deprived of the things she needs for basic physical well being and is in fact attending a school for privileged children. This isn't a Cinderella story. But she does feel herself to be in exile, away from her home and her people, however gracefully she deals with it. It's satisfying, at the end, to see her reunited with family and friends from Nigeria.

I did feel the end was a little too pat, though. I had all kinds of questions about whether she was able to carry on friendships with the girls she knew at school, whether she felt completely at home with her African friends, whether she was able to pick up her mother tongue again, and more.