“On that windowsill, she stood in the crossfire of people and lights and cars and bobbed her head to the beat of ragtime syncopation and driving brass bands to soaring gospel choirs mixed with field hollers and the deep-down growl of the blues. She danced to the groove of Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Willie “The Lion” Smith, Bessie Smith, Billie “Lady Day” Holiday, and Chick Webb. Legs swinging, roof rocking, neighbors knocking, and body incapable of standing still. Nora stood up on her toes and let her partner throw her over his back, let him throw her into the air again, and then slithered like her body was made of jellyfish underneath his legs. She danced as if she’d never had legs before, gliding and shaking in ways her father would never approve of. Nora flipped and split and cartwheeled around The Negro Club alongside Louis Jordan and The Nicholas Brother’s until the sweat began to congregate alongside her forehead and trickle its way down to her chin.”
– Renaissance: The Nora White Story, Book One.
Coming July 15, 2017
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