The Way She Wants to Get There by Mary Easter

The Way She Wants to Get There by Mary Easter

The author traces her development as a dancer during of the decade between 1968 and 1979, a pivotal era in Black/white relations, women's rights, and other significant developments in social traditions. The sanctions that thread through the American fabric to limit black lives can be seen in the description of her journey, which looks forward to her eventual success but focuses more often on her difficulties in balancing the aspirational needs of her trickster body with the responsibilities of family life on a small-town campus. Meditative interludes take us back to Easter's upbringing in Richmond, Virginia, in the midst of a highly talented family of musicians and educators, and the recollections of her elder family members take us back to the era of slavery and abduction. Dance enthusiasts and anyone familiar with the highly charged emotional climate of a modern dance troupe will enjoy her descriptions of joining, managing, and creating dances for such a group.

In addition to From the Flutes of Our Bones, Mary Moore Easter is the author of three other books of poetry. Her poems have been published in Poetry, Prairie Schooner, The Christian Century, Water Stone, SoFloPoJo and several anthologies. Raised in a musical household, her love of poems and the poetic voice persisted alongside her adult career as an independent dancer/choreographer and Founder and Director of Carleton College's dance program. Her awards include: Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board (2020), Pushcart Prize-nomination, Bush Artist Fellowship in Choreography, multiple McKnight Awards in Interdisciplinary Arts, The Loft Literary Center's Creative Non-Fiction Award, and residencies at Ragdale and The Anderson Center. Easter holds a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence and an M.A. in Music for Dancers from Goddard.