Overview

Fall brings us to a three-week getaway "Swing Camp," where middle-aged married couples like Jill and Dog practice their steps, mingle with other dance enthusiasts, and rekindle the flame. Their teenage daughter Lydia, however, is decidedly not an enthusiast in any sense, preferring scuba classes and sarcasm to the magic of the Shim Sham, shags, and Lindy Hop that have dancers – and their accompanying passions – swirling all around her. Lydia's self-imposed isolation gives way when Mr. Gonzales, her mother's quiet colleague, begins to pay attention to her. She learns to dance; she allows herself to fall in love. When Lydia's dance teacher Gopal reveals Lydia's secret, her family is unexpectedly tested. Ultimately, Lydia and Jill come to realize that leading and following are skills crucial not only to swing dancers, but to mothers and daughters as well.

Keywords

• Adolescence
• Aging
• Childhood
• Memory
• Parenting/Family
• Susan Smith Blackburn Prize