Discover the incredible world of social partner dancing. Complete beginners welcome. Learn in your living room or on an enormous dance floor. This is the second edition of a book previously called the Partner Dance Handbook. It teaches a “social” style of dancing common on dance floors around the world. This is different from the “formal” style seen in shows and on television. This social style is easier to learn for beginners, is arguably more musical and interpretative and can offer variations if you are already a formal dancer. Note that most other books and videos teach the formal style. The author’s experience is that at social dances this social style is far more common; obviously though this can vary from place to place. The author, Dr Duncan James, has taught thousands of people to dance in person at his classes and thousands more to dance via his YouTube channel. You can learn with Duncan for free on YouTube with his 44 free instructional videos. However, the videos and this book were created at the same time to work together; getting this book will give you a richer learning experience. Note that this book has no illustrations as it relies on the videos which are linked for free from the text. The particular benefit of this book is that it goes into much greater depth, appropriate for keener students. This book and the videos are designed to work even if you only have a small space available for dancing. How to Partner Dance Socially will guide you from complete beginner all the way to popular social dancer in the ballroom dances of foxtrot, quickstep and waltz and the latin dances of rumba, salsa and cha cha. A unique, practical approach means you will quickly learn to navigate a crowded dance floor, feel the music, improvise and enjoy dancing with your partner. A couple who have never danced before can realistically join a social dance (and not look out of place) after only an hour of practice with one of the complete beginner lessons. Advanced dancers can use some of the simple social moves as variations, work on the connection with their partner, learn to recycle moves between dances and discover ways to improvise to the music. If you are a teacher this book has detailed teaching advice and lesson plans. Remember this book is teaching a “social” style of dancing and not the “formal” style. The 44 companion videos can be watched on YouTube for free (via links in the text) or downloaded for free as a zip file (a link to this is also included in the text; the download is provided by the author and is limited by his internet host to a certain number of downloads every month). Buy How to Partner Dance Socially now to join in the fun on the dance floor!

Beginning Musical Theatre Dance introduces students to basic musical theatre dance techniques from a variety of genres, forms, and styles and explains how to put them into practice for performance on stage. Part of Human Kinetics’ Interactive Dance Series, the text and web resource offer students what they need to know about auditions, rehearsals, performing, and caring for themselves so they can have a successful experience in a musical theatre dance course. Designed for students enrolled in introductory musical theatre dance courses, the text contains photos and descriptions of basic warm-up exercises, center work, steps from a variety of dance genres used in musical theatre dance, partnering, and lifts. For those new to dance, the text provides an orientation to the structure of a musical theatre dance class and includes information on meeting class expectations, dressing appropriately, preparing mentally and physically, maintaining proper nutrition and hydration, and avoiding injury. The accompanying web resource presents more than 60 instructional video clips to help students practice and review musical theatre dance forms, techniques, and adaptations. A glossary builds students’ fluency in the vocabulary of musical theatre dance terminology, adaptations of steps, and styles. Each chapter contains learning features to support students’ knowledge, including experiences, e-journal assignments, web links, and interactive quizzes. (The web resource is included with all new print books and some ebooks. For ebook formats that don’t provide access, the web resource is available separately.) To dance on the musical theatre stage, students need to know how the world of musical theatre works; the expectations they must meet; and how to audition, rehearse, perform, and care for themselves. Beginning Musical Theatre Dance will arm them with the practical information as well as the historical background they need for success. Beginning Musical Theatre Dance is part of Human Kinetics’ Interactive Dance Series. The series incudes resources for ballet, tap, modern dance, and jazz that support introductory technique courses taught through dance, physical education, and fine arts departments. Each student-friendly text includes a web resource offering video clips of dance instruction, learning aids, assignments, and activities. The Interactive Dance Series offers students a guide to learning, performing, and viewing dance.

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Social Partner Dance: Body, Sound, and Space is an ethnographic theory of social partner dancing built on participant observation and interviews with instructors of tango, lindy hop, salsa, blues, and various other forms. The work establishes a general analytical language for the study of these dances, based on the premise that a thorough understanding of any lead/follow form must consider in depth how it manages the four-part relationship between self, partner, music, and surroundings. Each chapter begins with a brief vignette on a distinct dance form and explores the focused worlds of partnered dancing done for the joy and entertainment of the dancers themselves. Grounded intellectually in embodiment studies and sensory ethnography, and empirically in ethnographic fieldwork, Social Partner Dance promotes scholarship that understands the social, cultural, and political functions of partner dance through its embodied practice.

In the 85 chapters of this guidebook, you will find many ideas about waltzing, dancing, and living. Dance descriptions and tips to improve your dancing are accompanied by down-to-earth ways to find greater fulfillment in your dancing and in your life. 25 different kinds of waltz are completely described, including: cross-step waltz, Viennese waltz, box step waltz, rotary waltz, polka, schottische, redowa, mazurka, hambo, zwiefacher, and more. In addition, you will find 85 waltz variations completely described, and a concise compendium of an additional hundred variations, accompanied by 50 illustrations of waltzing through the ages. Then beyond waltzing, much of this book applies to all forms of social ballroom dancing. You'll learn how you can be a better dance partner, how to develop your style and musicality, how to improvise more confidently, how to learn new dances by observation, and how to create your own social dance variations. You'll also learn about the many ways that the practice of social dancing can enrich our lives. Drawing on the latest research in social psychology, Waltzing includes chapters on the essential benefits of: music, physical activity, connection, play, mindfulness, acceptance, conditional learning, and many other topics.

Dance healing is available to everyone! Without even stepping into a dance class, you have access to one of the most powerful healing modalities and can benefit from the profound joy, strength, grace, and love that dance offers you! We all have a skeleton in our closet, something that we have done or that has happened to us that has made our lives difficult, has caused us pain, and has left physical, mental, and emotional scars. Imagine the possibilities when you learn to dance with your skeletons and ultimately heal them in such a way that you will never put them back in the closet again! Dancing with Your Skeletons is a three-part book offering you three separate ways to experience dance healing. The book as a whole can also be an amazing tool to gently and easily facilitate dance healing in your own life. Every dance begins with one step. Reading this book is your first step in a new, beautiful, and exciting dance.

A step-by-step guide to learning five different social dances including the swing, cha-cha, fox-trot, waltz, and polka, with illustrations that show proper technique, suggestions for detecting and correcting errors, practice drills, and checklists for evaluating progress; includes a music CD.

In Becoming Beautiful, Joanna Bosse explores the transformations undergone by the residents of a Midwestern town when they step out on the dance floor for the very first time. Bosse uses sensitive fieldwork as well as her own immersion in ballroom culture to lead readers into a community that springs up around ballroom dance. The result is a portrait of the real people who connect with others, change themselves, and join a world that foxtrots to its own rules, conventions, and rewards. Bosse's eye for revealing, humorous detail adds warmth and depth to discussions around critical perspectives on the experiences the dance hall provides, the nature of partnership and connection, and the notion of how dancing allows anyone to become beautiful.

Describes the history of ballroom dancing; presents photo-illustrated instructions for the waltz, foxtrot, tango, Viennese waltz, rumba, merengue, samba, cha-cha, mambo, East Coast swing, and hustle; discusses such topics as timing, rhythm, practice, and expectations; and includes an eleven-track audio CD.

Dance can be a powerful means to create social harmony and enhance health. It is often overlooked as a way to make the world a better place. This book will give you insight into the depth of social partner dance and how it can improve well-being on physical, mental and social levels. The chapters shed light on the positive aspects of dance from the framework of urban kiz. It examines this dance from a philosophical and scientific point of view, making it the most comprehensive resource for dancers and a must-read for those interested in partner dance research.