Chapters 1-4 Summary

Ten Cents a Dance is a novel about the seedier side of life in the 1940s. The author draws from true history to make her novel authentic, but the characters are all purely fictional.

In Chapter 1, Ruby Jacinski goes to a dance at the Union Hall in her neighborhood with her best friend, Angie. Ruby has recently quit school in order to take a job working in the packinghouse. The dance is a chance to relax and be a teenager for a little while again. However, it was a hard fought battle with her mother to get the permission to go. For these reasons, Ruby throws herself into dancing, something she greatly enjoys. This leads to a fight with another girl when Ruby chooses a partner she knows can keep up with her, but who is currently dating the other girl...