It's Only Dancing

Guillory, Jasmine. It's Only Dancing

October 6, 2026 by Scholastic Press

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Kat is not thrilled that she has to spend an entire month at Camp Ochoa in California with her parents and older sister Ella. The four will have a three room cabin and WAY too much time together. Kat would much rather stay home, read, and have some time to herself. Instead, she finds herself scheduled into watercolor painting classes, bird watching, yoga, and pottery. Needing some time to think, she goes for a walk alone one evening and happens upon a group of counselors who are not too much older than she is, dancing. She makes eye contact with Jordan, who is a dance instructor, and gets invited in, but another counselor, Toni, is very negative, and tells Jordan that they should not be fraternizing with campers. THe next day, Kat comes across Toni crying, and gets to talking to her. Toni's nonbinary partner, Frankie, is running in a state track meet, and she really wants to go and be supportive, but the meet is on the same day she is supposed to be dancing with Jordan so he can perform for some college scouts. His father is the chef at the camp, and Jordan hopes he can get a college scholarship for his hip hop dancing. Kat had been an avid ballet dancer, but as she got older and got curves, was told she didn't have the "right" body for ballet. This put her off dancing, but she tries some of the moves with Toni and decides she likes hip hop. She tells Jordan that her parents won't mind if she goes with him to perform, but she just plans on sneaking off and not telling them, as her mother has made negative comments about the clothing and movements included in this style of dance. The two are soon practicing their moves, and becoming closer. Kat is a good technical dancer, but still adheres to the very stiff and formal strictures of ballet. Jordan feels that if she were more comfortable with him, her dancing would be more relaxed, and promises that he won't step over any lines. The two do like each other, and spend a lot of time kissing even though this could get Jordan in trouble with the uptight director, Susanna. The two manage to perform for the scout, and hope to dance again at the camp Show, but their relationship is revealed and Jordan is fired. Kat comes clean to her parents, who are just glad that she is happier, since she took leaving ballet so hard. The camp rallies behind Jordan and mounts a protest to get his job back. Will they be successful?
Strengths: I didn't know that family camp was still a thing; this book loosely reimagines the movie Dirty Dancing, which was set in a 1960s Borscht Belt family resort. It's updated nicely, with a more diverse cast, and good details like the father working remotely instead of driving up every weekend from the city. Jordan was a great guy, and he treated Kat with a lot of respect. The parents give Kat a lot of freedom (as one might do in a family camp setting), and are extremely understanding, since they trust her to make good choices, but they are just the right amount of annoying! The romance is very sweet, and nothing happens except for a lot of kissing. There aren't too many books about hip hop dancing, so this was fun to read. 
Weaknesses: Do modern teens care about forty year old movies? This would be roughly equivalent of people my age being obsessed with Casablanca when I was in high school. It was interesting to see the chapter headings, which were titles of 1980s movies, including The Breakfast Club and When Harry Met Sally. 
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who like young adult romance books that are also appealing to middle grade readers like Watson's Love is a Revolution, Rigaud's Simone Breaks all the Rules, or Kasie West's or Michelle Dalton's romance titles.