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Former PCC student, author Reyna Grande touts new book
Author and former PCC student Reyna Grande appeared at Vromans book store on Tuesday to introduce her new book “Dancing with the Butterflies”.
Grande brought the Pacifico Dance Company to do three Folklorico (Folkloric) dance routines.
Photo Credit: Jenny Bartle
“Dancing with Butterflies”, is Grande’s follow up to her award-winning debut novel “Across a Hundred Mountains”. Characters in “Dancing with Butterflies” incorporate real life issues that Grande had growing up. Adriana, the main character in the book, was raised by an abusive alcoholic father and because of that she has always been yearning for love that she never got from her father.
“My father was physically abusive and drank a lot, so much so that I left my house and started living with one of my teachers when I attended PCC,” said Grande.
While attending PCC, Grande befriended Diana Savas, a language professor. Savas inspired Grande to become a writer. They formed such a great relationship that when Grande was having problems at home, Savas told Grande to move in with her.
“Savas told me that she saw many students drop out because of family issues. She believed in me and introduced me to Latino literature when I started living with her,” said Grande.
“Dancing” has exquisite details about the folklorico throughout the book, from specific dances to challenges of directing a group of dancers.
Grande wanted to write about folklorico because there not many books about the subject. She wanted to capture a different glimpse of the Mexican culture through dance.
“It is a big subculture, but it’s not in our literature. You wont find many books about Folklorico in fiction or non fiction, you only find pamphlets. Each state in Mexico has a different variation of the Folklorico, each dance is to mimic a certain animal, ” said Grande.
Soledad, another character in the book, is an undocumented immigrant who came to America because of her love of art. Her grandmother dies from a scorpion bite, but her passion in art leads her to Folklorico dancing.
“I wanted to be an art major, [but] Savas convinced me that writing was the future,” said Grande. “I still use art in my books. My own illustrations are in each chapter of the book. My grandmother died from a scorpion bite, all my characters are inspired by true events.”
Grande is coordinating the 12th annual Los Angeles Latino Book festival on Saturday and Sunday at California State University at Los Angeles. Grande will be joined by 70 Latino authors at the event and it will be hosted by Edward James Olmos.