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Modern Ballroom Dancing
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
Long one of the most popular activities in the world, dancing brings pleasure to millions as well as the benefits of physical and mental relaxation, exercise, and social poise. If you haven't had the opportunity to learn, Victor Silvester's best-selling book provides all you need to know. Featuring dazzling photos of some of the world's greatest dancers, this is a definitive handbook, complete with notes, diagrams, and steps for every dance. The four classics—Waltz, Foxtrot, Quickstep, and Tango—are all covered, as are the standard Latin-American dances—Rumba, Samba, Cha-Cha- Cha, Paso Doble—as well as Jive, Rock ' n' Roll, and Disco dancing. Invaluable for beginners, advanced students, and teachers alike, this classic work shows the way to a world of enjoyment that will last a lifetime.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Victor Silvester is the man who put the 'slow, slow, quick, quick, slow' into ballroom dancing. He won the World's Professional Dancing Championship in 1922 and went on to build an unrivalled reputation as a demonstrator and teacher of dance. The recordings that he made, with his famous orchestra, have sold in excess of 75 million. Awarded the OBE for services to Ballroom Dancing, Victor Silvester was also President of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance. He died in 1978.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very solid and entertaining dance guide--One of the best!,
By jekim@hsph.harvard.edu (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Modern Ballroom Dancing (Paperback)
I looked high and low for a ballroom dance book that I could recommend to my fellow ballroom dancers at Harvard. Most of the literature tended to be either too simplistic (for novices) or too boring (ISTD manuals). I especially loved the format of the book and the beautiful photographs of competition dancers. The foot patterns and detailed descriptions are helpful for the non-novice dancer. One big plus of this publication is that the author describes Silver & Gold patterns.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
International-Style Ballrooom Dancing,
This review is from: Modern Ballroom Dancing (Paperback)
This is a pretty good book for anyone who's currently taking lessons in International-style dancing. It goes through all 10 dances used in International Rhythm and Smooth competition. The author presents about 12 or more variations in each dance. There are foot diagrams for about half the variations. He details the footwork (written), contrary body movement, timing, sway and amount of turn. All of the photos are of competitors at a dance event so they're not helpful if you're trying to learn how any figure looks. I don't think it's a book to buy if you're starting to learn how to dance but if you're already taking lessons, it's a good book to reinforce what you're learning. American-style is not covered at all.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A ballroom teacher's manual with pictures,
By
This review is from: Modern Ballroom Dancing (Paperback)
I have both the Victor Silvester book and Alex Moore's ISTD ballroom manual. I personally find the ISTD manual more compact, and a lot better organized. It is a little more expensive than Silvester, and it also has no pictures, it is much more useful in my opinion.
The Victor Silvester book is a ballroom instructor's manual with pictures, and the reader's understanding of the material will be exponentially proportional to his prior experience. That is, the beginners will not find it useful at all, while the intermediate and advanced dancers will be able to learn quite a bit from it. The pictures and figures contribute very little to explain the steps themselves. Although the book covers all ballroom steps from beginner to gold, it didn't tell you which one is which. Even though this book claims to include both ballroom and latin, the latin syllabus are only covered upt to the bronze level. It also does not explain essential concepts such as Cuban motion and samba bounce. Unlike the other manuals, the Victor Silvester book also go over the basic steps for Viennese Waltz and (huh huh ...) disco. If the reader already finds the book useful (i.e., he can understand and carry out the steps by reading the book alone), these steps are probably not anything new or groundbreaking. Also, a word for the prospective dancers. I have seen (and met) a lot of people who try to learn from the book directly, only to be discouraged by the less than desirable results. What a lot of these books won't tell you, or at least convey effectively, are the fundamental aspects of partnered dancing, such as posture, communication, movement, and body connections. These aspects have to be taught by a qualified instructor, because they can't simply be put in words and therefore can't be executed like computer programs.
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