Reyna Grande is a Mexican-American novelist and memoirist.

Her writing is an

impressive contribution in exhibiting the cultural and traditional heritage of Mexico.

Grande creates a landmark in establishing her writings as a voice of immigrants in the

field of literature. Since she is an immigrant writer, she marks her uniqueness through sharing

her own migration experience in her works of art. Though Grande is known as a bilingual

writer, her native tongue Spanish is supplanted by English. She reveals her love and respect

for her native language Spanish, and wishes to establish herself as a Mexican rather than a

Mexican-American.

Grande’s second novel Dancing with Butterflies (2009) published by Washington

Square Press, established Grande as an eminent novelist. She was also awarded an

International Book Award for Dancing with Butterflies in 2010. The novel is full of

biographical details, and it focuses mainly on the yearning of immigrants. Grande herself

being an illegal immigrant vividly portrays the love and desire for one’s own native heritage.

In this novel, Grande focuses on the life of four different women, whose lives interconnect

through a common passion for their Mexican heritage and a dance company Alegria. Grande

writes this novel to establish the significance of Mexican culture.

Dancing with Butterflies uses the alternating voices of four very different women in a

Los Angeles dance company called Alegría to weave a story of friendship and love. The

novel is filled with music, dance and love. It focuses on the nature of the Mexican immigrants

who deliberately establish their native culture in the land they settle as an assertion of their

identity.

Yesenia, the founder of Grupo Folklórico Alegria, is 42. She establishes her identity

through establishing the Folklorico dance in the United States of America. Though she is

constantly troubled under health disabilities and personal struggles, her intense love for
Folklorico allows her to overcome the struggles. Being a Mexican immigrant in the American

soil, her entire wish is to sustain her Mexican identity in the adopted land, the United States

of America. Yesenia and her husband Eduardo run the Folklorico dance company Alegria.

Her love and desire for the cultural dance is so keen that she puts forth her ceaseless effort in

bringing her dance company Alegria to be the first in America, “Eduardo and I have worked

so hard to get it where it is now. There are about hundred Folklorico dances in Los Angeles,

and Folklorico Alegria is one of the best” (5). Revealing the hardship, Yesenia expresses her

determination in establishing the dance Folklorico. Her entire wish is to enrich the Mexican

heritage through establishing her cultural dance and so she works hard for the development of

the Folklorico dance group Alegria.. Grande conveys the strong willpower of Yesenia, by

describing her challenging effort even at her crucial health condition. As Yesenia is suffering

from severe knee pain, she fears that her health issue would put an end to her dance career.

Being a passionate dancer, she tries hard to manage the knee pain. She strives hard to

continue with her passion for dance. Hence, she goes for alternative sources of taking

painkillers like Advil to get rid of her pain. Yesenia on experiencing a severe pain due to her

knee problem, is scared that her health complication would put an end to her passion for

dance. Moreover, she fears that if she becomes lame, her dance company Alegria would also

come to trouble.

Being a lovable husband, Eduardo gives her emotional support. As Eduardo says that

Alegria dance company is always hers; it shows his love and concern for his wife. Moreover,

Eduardo shows his timely support to her. Since Yesenia is worried about her dance company,

it shows her emotional struggle to continue her passion for dance and so her hard work to

build-up her dance company in the American soil. She fears that her health issue would ruin

her effort that she puts forth to bring her dance company to its fame. Hence, Eduardo’s timely

support to his wife establishes himself as a responsible husband in binding the unity of the
family and his action reflects the typical system of Mexican family, whose members stand

hand-in-hand at the crucial times of one’s difficulties.

Yesenia continuously tries various ways to recover from her knee pain and so, she

constantly visits the medical practitioner to get proper medication. She visits her orthopaedist

to get proper remedy for her health issues. Her doctor advises her, Ms. Alegria at this point

“there isn’t much to be done . . . the only thing you can do is to stop dancing . . . „Be happy it

isn’t so bad that surgery would be required. All you need to do now is to do moderate

exercise, get plenty of rest, and keep your weight down. You’re thirty –five pounds

overweight‟ (59). She now understands that her bodyweight is the real cause of her knee

pain and hence she looks forward to reducing her body weight, with the hope of getting into

the dance group once again. Thus, Yesenia’s optimistic spirit highlights her as a protagonist,

who struggles hard to overcome the odd phases that come before her passion for dance.

Grande at this crucial state, describes a turning point by revealing the calamities that

happen in the life of the protagonist. Though she initially states that the protagonist Yesenia

is an inspiring woman, who strives hard to establish her Mexican identity in American soil,

she then projects her as a fallen protagonist who suffers from an unethical life style, which

deliberately leads her to the path of destruction because she seeks a miracle from a plastic

surgeon in Tijuana. With great expectation, she moves on toa body-sculpturing treatment to

reduce her body weight. Since Yesenia understands that her body weight is the main cause of

her knee problem, she feels very happy to read the information in the newspaper about the

body-sculpturing treatment. On seeing the advertisement in the newspaper, she experiences a

kind of relief from her troubles. Even though the body-sculpturing treatment is a dangerous

process in which the unwanted flesh in the body could be removed through series of

surgeries, Yesenia with great hope clings on to the risky procedures in order to reduce her

body weight and to continue her dance company once again. Though there are many such
clinics in America, Yesenia chooses to start her treatment in Tijuana because she could get

the treatment at less cost comparatively in America.

Yesenia being a strong and an ambitious protagonist, boldly conveys her decision

about the body-sculpturing treatment to her husband Eduardo. Eduardo disapproves her

decision and he tries to convince her that it is a dangerous surgery which will harm her life.

Though Eduardo claims that the body-sculpting surgery is a dangerous process, she still

stands in her own mindset and does not pay attention to her husband’s words. Despite the risk

factors, she wishes to proceed with the body-sculpturing treatment to reduce her body weight

because it puts too much pressure on her knees and it further complicates her health issues.

Above all, her only longing is to get back to the dance group once again. Henceforth, she

thinks that through body-sculpting treatment, she will get a second chance of getting back to

the Folklorico dance group. Yesenia reveals her confidence in proceeding with the first

procedure of liposuction surgery in body-sculpturing treatment. Having recovered from the

surgery, she experiences an overwhelming joy of self-satisfaction on witnessing her physical

appearance. She feels happy on losing her body weight and claims that she can dance once

again in the Alegria dance group.

As the liposuction treatment transforms Yesenia into a young and beautiful person,

her passion for the dance disappears and starts moving towards the body-sculpturing

treatment. Yesenia with great confidence takes part in the dance program through which she

wishes to show off her ageless beauty as the result of body-sculpturing treatment. Moreover,

she wears new costumes with great excitement and she feels happy on admiring her own

beauty. Thus, Grande at this juncture, unveils the falling state of Yesenia, who deliberately

gets away from her passion and focuses much on everlasting beauty. Initially Yesenia choses

the body-sculpturing treatment to reduce her body weight and to continue her dance career

with the Alegria dance group. Next, she wishes to undertake tummy-tuck surgery which is a
part of body-sculpting treatment in order to get additional beauty for her body. In order to

reshape the structure of her body, Yessenia visits Dr. Salas to sculpture her physical shape.

Her attitude reveals the fact that her craziness towards body-sculpting treatment has got her

away from her passion for dance and is leading her towards the lustful act of exposing her

physical appearance. Thus, Yesenia’s addiction to body-sculpturing treatment paints the

boom of modern technologies which make her struggle because of passion for dance and

physical admiration. Yesenia’s behaviour makes her husband Eduardo express his extreme

anger towards her. Since she involves in the crazy act of transforming her physical

appearance through body-sculpturing treatment, he is fed up with her activities and blames

her for being irresponsible to her family.

Since Yesenia is utilizing the dancers’ fund for her body-sculpturing treatment,

Eduardo flies into intense anger for stealing the groups’ fund. Further, he claims that through

her crazy act, they have lost the trust of the dancers. Even though she promises that she

would replace the amount without the dancers’ knowledge, Eduardo accuses Yesenia of using

the group’s amount without the knowledge of the dancers. Henceforth, Eduardo continues his

accusation against Yesenia as he is not convinced of any of her deeds. Thus, Grande brings

out the difference between Yesenia and Eduardo which eventually creates a great impact on

their marital relationship.

Yesenia for the first time realizes her fault in spending the group’s amount for her

body-sculpting treatment. She expresses her guilt when Soledad, the costume designer of the

Alegria dance group gets stuck in Mexico due to shortage of money and is unable to come

back to America. As Soledad’s sister Stephanie conveys her mother’s hardship to get Soledad

back to the United States of America, Yesenia feels so bad for utilizing the group’s money

and being helpless in getting Soledad back to the Alegria dance group. As Yesenia is over

concerned about her physical appearance, she is totally blind to the financial state of her
dance group Alegria. Moreover, she does not even understand the critical condition of her

dance group which is without the costume designer. Eventually Yesenia’s act leads the

Alegria dance group to struggle much due to shortage of fund. Yesenia after enquiring

Stephanie, comes to understand the real situation of her dance group and feels bad for her

ordeals.

Eduardo and Yesenia often quarrel because of her unethical behaviour. Since Yesenia

is obviously in distress regarding her continuous struggle with their marital relationship she

attempts to move away from her husband and tries to get alliance with one of her high school

boy friends Sam, without the knowledge of her husband Eduardo. Yesenia with great

expectation introduces herself to Sam. When Yesenia’s husband fails to admire her beauty,

she feels happy about Sam’s compliment regarding her beauty. Moreover, Yesenia is longing

for such credits from others for a long time. Further, she accepts Sam’s Christmas gift with

great pleasure. Yesenia with super excitement accepts Sam’s Christmas gift with the hope

that his love for her is sincere.

Grande cleverly portrays the most significant event in the novel Dancing with

Butterflies, when the alliance between Sam and Yesenia comes to an end. Yesenia is on her

way to his house in order to hand over her surprise gift for him, but her dream shatters when

she finds a woman inside his house as she steps on his main door. Yesenia on seeing a

woman’s presence in Sam’s house, argues with him when, he opens the door wider and

stands next to the woman. With Sam’s rejection Yesenia comes to understand her fault and

feels sorry for the act of betraying her beloved husband Eduardo and her only son Memo.

Moreover, she understands the true love and concern of Eduardo who always gives time to

correct her fault. Yesenia, because of her feeling of guilt confesses her fault to her husband

Eduardo about her relationship with Sam. Yesenia at this crucial state walks in the path of

realization and expresses her true love for her dance company Alegria. As she appoints Elena,
the co-dancer of the Alegria dance group the director of her dance company, it shows her

earnest spirit to restore the Alegria dance company once again to its original form. Moreover,

Elena is also a Mexican immigrant and she is the only dancer who really longs to establish

her native Mexican dance Folklorico as a sort of establishing her identity in the United States

of America.

Yesenia with so much of confidence proceeds on her plan to bring Soledad back to

America by using her sister Adriana’s passport for Soledad. Being an illegal immigrant from

Mexico, Soledad is stuck in her native country Mexico after her visit to attend her

grandmother’s funeral. As Soledad is the costume designer of the Alegria dance company,

her presence is indispensable for her dance company Alegria and so Yesenia attempts a

fraudulent act in bringing Soledad back to the United States of America by claiming

Adriana’s passport for Soledad. Though Yesenia knows very well that she involves in a

dangerous job of risking her life by helping Soledad with fraudulent migration, she feels that

by risking herself, she can regain the lost trust from the dancers of Alegria. Soledad’s arrival

is very much necessary for the growth of Alegria. Thus, Yesenia plays an active role in

bringing her dance company to its original state with Soledad back in her Alegria dance

group. Being a Mexican immigrant in the American soil, her love towards Folklorico does

not actually establish her passion for dance rather, she acts as a carrier in holding the ethnic

identity of the country Mexico in the United States of America.