Tanz! Is a graphic novel by Maurane Mazars depicting Uli, a young dancer, and following him as he lives his dream moving from Germany to New York in 1957 in order to be on Broadway.
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One of my favorite things about this graphic novel is the discussion of race during a time period that it is not discussed very often. While there is talk of queer romance, the story revolved more about Uli’s relationship with dance as well as marginalized groups around him, which is often not discussed.
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The artwork is unique and beautiful and was able to illustrate movement well, which is incredibly important in a story centered around dance. My main critique with this is the ending felt incomplete, but it did leave me wanting more as we just began to see the personalities of some of the characters. I can’t wait to see the other volumes of this as it was an incredibly short read!

This book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I absolutely loved the illustrations in this book. They were dynamic and moving. I felt like even without the text I could have understood what was happening. I could tell that the text was translated, as the wording was sometimes clunky and difficult to understand. But the illustrations made it worth the read.

Earlier on the night I reviewed this I was exceptionally annoyed to get a quarter of an original book, as I so wanted the rest and there was no reason beyond greediness from the publishers for breaking it up into small chunks. This, again, is a fraction of the original, albeit more like 60% than the 25-30% of the other book I refer to. Unfortunately, for my argument at least, I didn't miss the rest of this, for this ungainly-styled drama about gayness, 1950s Germany and contemporary dance, just was not my scene. I fear with this styling, this awkward (and very episodic) attempt at presenting the passion for dance movement that just fails, was always going to get one and a half stars, however much of it I received. The fact remains I wish the publishers could be broken of their bad habits, though – just as I wish to never read a "war-torn Europe(an) rescued by the Yanks" drama ever again.

Review to come in a few days to blog/goodreads.

I received this book from Netgalley/publisher in exchange of an honest review.

So this is part 1 of the Tanz graphic novel, I can only hope that the next part also gets translated as I would love to continue reading about Uli (which I kept reading as Uil, which means Owl in Dutch) and see how he continues with things and if he and Anthony can be together.

Meet Uli, a fantastic dancer who is pretty enthusiastic about everything in life. However the world is just recovering from a big war and not everyone is sharing Uli's enthusiasm. I was just hoping that Uli would stay enthusiastic, would make his dreams, would impress everyone with his interesting dances. I loved that he was gay or at least LGBT. I loved seeing him fall in love. I loved him taking his chances, I am often used to the MC's being the ones who are being flirted with, but Uli is flirting and clearly making his intentions clear. YES! I loved the romance scenes we at times see, they are flowing and beautifully shown. It was like a dance, perfectly in sync with what this book is about.
I loved that Anthony got Uli thinking about NY, about seeing a Broadway musical for real. I loved seeing Uli try to make sense of what to do, and if he should go. Of course, given the book I knew what he would choose, now it was just waiting for him to go!

The book is broken up in parts, in months and years to be specific, at least in the beginning, when Uli heads to New York everything happens in March/Spring it seems, and where Uli is at the moment. Each part would make itself known with a picture of Uli, the place, and the date. I love that this was done. It made it easier to follow, plus it is good to see that time passes. Sometimes you don't notice that, or it is not easily to notice.

I loved that the war that ended 7 years ago still makes an appearance. We see Berlin still in shatters, we see various other cities in Germany broken. Uli also clearly has memories and nightmares about things that happened when he was a kid (seems he survived a bombing). There are conversations and discussions. We see a world that tries to make the best of things, tries to go back to normal.
There is also talk about racism when Uli meets a guy named Anthony who has a hard time with things because he is coloured/black. And yes, I did think it was tactless of Uli to go to the first black dancer he saw to ask about Anthony. But, given the time, I can also forgive him a bit. 

The art was quite good. Colourful, bright, full of movement and more. I loved seeing the dancing scenes it was like they were truly dancing. I hope that this doesn't sound too weird, I am just trying to find the correct words for it all. I am definitely a fan of the style. I was at first worried I may not like it, but I shouldn't have worried. This was great!

All in all, I enjoyed this graphic novel a lot. Dancing, memories, LGBT romance, and finding a place to belong and to dance. I would recommend it.

Tanz!, set in the '50s, introduces a young, LGBTQ+ German dancer who moves to New York to pursue a dream of dancing in a Broadway musical.

I'll be honest, I didn't get much out of this story, maybe because I know next to nothing about dance so the countless conversations throughout about different types of dance and what's seen as highbrow etc. kind of went over my head. This is also just part 1 of the story so there isn't much in the way of plot and development, so maybe I'd enjoy it more if I read further issues.

Nevertheless, I did like the art style. It's quite different to stuff that I've come across before and other graphic novels that I've read. I like how the artist uses quite a rough and sketchy kind of style, where the forms and colours often blend into each other – I felt like that worked really well with the subject matter being about dance and movement.

This was a really quick read, so I don't regret picking it up, and I'm sure this is a graphic novel that others would really enjoy, especially if you're into dance, particularly dance in the '50s.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"In Europe, trauma creates the necessity - the urgency - for a more....anchored...artwork"

These are the words of our protagonist, Uli, after he moves to New York to study dance after leaving Folkwang in 1950s East Germany, where he ran into barriers to his self expression, namely his love of musicals and Broadway dance.

The story so far is sweet but I particularly like how the lingering trauma of the Second World War, of Uli's contemporary lie, of racism and homophobia, is conveyed in the art and, especially the noticeable change in movement after Uli's move.

Overall, very good start to this series. I can't wait to buy this and read more!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such A lovely experience to read. I’m absolutely in love with the art to the point where I am upset that I’m not holding a real copy in my hands and had to experience it on my phone !

The story is heartfelt and wonderful and the art is INCREDIBLE. I cannot wait to buy a copy and add to it to my shelf.