The difficulty in communicating what is meant by the word "dialogue" is one that faces all those who use language. The word "dialogue" itself clearly carries with it notions of exchange, a verbal intercourse of thought. It also suggests balance and hints at a discursive to and fro among speakers. Consequently, the "dialogistic" suggests a student's taking part in a dialogue, or multiple dialogues, among students and teachers; it also suggests taking turns, constructing a delicate balancing act in a classroom where power relations remain unequal. The word "dialogue" is, as well, related to the word "dialect"; it hints at one's manner of speaking and implies the specificity of language carried through to the level of the individual--one's "idiolect." This article discusses the manner in which dialogue manifests itself as a problem within the context of the classroom. How will student and professor negotiate these institutionalized sets of power relations during their precarious balancing act? Once engaged in the performance of dialogue, how can those in the classroom also engage themselves in the act of balancing, or alternatively, displacing, other sets of power relations? (Contains 1 endnote.)