Finding Oneself Through Art: Elaine Neil Orr’s “Dancing Woman” https://ift.tt/fb4cF7u
Elaine Neil Orr’s latest novel, Dancing Woman, takes readers on a journey to 1960s Nigeria for a close look at the expat community of that time and place. The novel’s protagonist is a young American woman, Isabel, whose husband works for USAID (the United States Agency for International Development). Isabel’s journey of artistic self-discovery occurs alongside her expanding knowledge of the culture around her. If you like Kate Chopin’s The Awakening but wanted things to end differently for Edna, you will love Dancing Woman.
Isabel, a painter whose role as a wife is in conflict with her artistic tendencies, is reminiscent of Chopin’s protagonist in a few ways, though her journey differs from Edna’s. For example, she has an illicit affair that propels her toward deeper self-understanding. However, unlike Edna, Isabel’s trajectory is largely positive, and her role as a mother is nowhere near as oppressive to her as Edna’s seems to be. Isabel adores both of her daughters, and she is also an advocate for other girls and women in her community. She urges her husband to teach agricultural techniques to women rather than focusing solely on the men. She encourages her friend Elise to mentor a Nigerian girl as a way of helping the girl avoid an early marriage, and she refuses to teach art classes to a group of boys unless girls are also permitted to attend.
Orr herself grew up in Nigeria, as the child of missionary parents, and her depiction of the setting seems to reflect her personal connection and understanding. The narrator frequently acknowledges the colonial history and complex relationships that inform Isabel’s presence in Nigeria. At times, Isabel oversteps and misunderstands things because of her outsider status, and the narrator as well as other characters call her out for her white, Western assumptions. For example, the Nigerian girl who Isabel wants to “save” from an early marriage has a mother who is already working to ensure and shape her daughter’s future. Isabel fails to recognize that the Nigerian mother is just as thoughtful and informed as she is, if not more so.
The novel’s conflict begins when Isabel’s husband, Nick, is deeply engaged with his work and forgets about a party at a British guesthouse in a nearby town. With the help of a friend, Isabel attends the party without her husband, and there she meets a British-Nigerian musician, Bobby Tunde. Despite the many differences between them, during the night at the guesthouse, both Isabel and Bobby step outside to watch the rain, and their conversation reveals the similarities they share as artists. Their chance encounter leads to a one-night stand.
While she tries to keep the secret of her night with Tunde, Isabel also finds a small sculpture in her backyard. The sculpture is of a dancing woman, and though she knows that it does not belong to her, Isabel becomes attached to it. When her husband and house manager discover that she has hidden it, they insist that she take it to the local chief. She’s sure he will make her give it up, but instead, he assigns her a task: “You must earn the right to keep this sculpture by learning what it has to say to you” (52).
As Isabel works to understand the sculpture, she also begins to re-engage with her own artistic practice as a painter. She recalls learning how to work with watercolors and tries to capture the landscape around her. This creative impulse is something about her personality and purpose in the world that Nick fails to understand, and Tunde’s acknowledgement of and attention to Isabel’s identity as an artist is what causes her to repeatedly think about the musician. Rather than continuing the affair, Isabel seeks her own artistic development and purpose in the world. This character development choice is a distinct strength of the novel. Though Isabel continues to value her marriage and her children, her fulfillment, which seems connected to the sculpture’s message, comes not from other people but from within.
The novel’s tension grows when Isabel gives birth to fraternal twins. The physical differences in their appearance raise questions among her friends, and Isabel fears that her affair with Tunde will be made public. As Isabel works to keep her secret, understand the sculpture’s message, and develop her artistic self, readers get a glimpse of a specific time and place through the experience of a character who is growing and changing. Dancing Woman is somewhat character driven, but it has several moments of dramatic intensity, and because Isabel’s choices and perspectives are likely to generate some debate, Dancing Woman is sure to become a popular book club pick.
FICTION Dancing Woman
By Elaine Neil Orr
Blair
Published January 21, 2025
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