'Papa why do you dance when you walk? When Aden's 8-year-old daughter asks him this one
morning in Paris he is taken aback. The question is innocent but the answer is not so simple.
Unable to resist Béa's inquisitive spirit he moves silkily between memories of his childhood:
from his silent mysterious mother and the shanty roofs of his neighbourhood to the malicious
attack that changed his life forever and the ensuing struggle that made him a man. Anchoring
his memories is a Djibouti on the cusp of independence a land of shifting deserts and immense
heat French-from-France ex-pats and one lonely and sick boy finding solace in books. Why Do
You Dance When You Walk is a poignant and timeless story of the complexity of family the value
of poetry and freedom and the ripple effect of the traumas that stalk our movement.
