Modern Dancing (Da Capo series in dance) [Hardcover]

Vernon Castle (Author)

Book Description

Series: Da Capo series in dance | Publication Date: July 1980

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1914 Original Publisher: World Syndicate Co. Description: Written by one of the most famous exhibition ballroom teams of the century, the manual covers a large variety of dances popular during the ragtime era including the tango, one step, hesitation waltz, and maxixe. A large portion of the book is devoted to grace and etiquette, appropriate dance dresses for women, and music. Many photographs of the famous couple enhance the manual. Subjects: Dance Ballroom dancing Performing Arts / Dance / General Performing Arts / Dance / Classical Performing Arts / Dance / Modern Performing Arts / Dance / Popular Notes: This is an OCR reprint. There may be typos or missing text. There are no illustrations or an index. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 186 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Pr (July 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306760509
• ISBN-13: 978-0306760501
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,435,900 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for dance historians, not so if you are a beginner., March 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Modern Dancing (Da Capo series in dance) (Hardcover)

This is a true classic. It should be on the shelf of every serious ballroom or social dance enthusiast. If you are a beginner who wants to learn some steps, however, look elsewhere. Includes very amusing chapters on clothing and the dansant by Irene Castle. The rating of five stars merely reflects the historical value of the book and the Castles. Posed photograps are a blast. :o)

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed emotions, May 12, 2010

By 

Henry Howard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Modern Dancing (Paperback)

Given the publication date of 1914, some of the detail for dancing has changed, but that's to be expected. I enjoyed the history and explanations. While the description of the book does point out that the print version is an OCR copy, prone to errors and the pictures are missing, I am disappointed that the print version did not receive any clean up editing.
Most of the mis-reads could have been easily fixed. I may actually print the PDF version to have a more readable copy not to mention having the pictures next to the text where they belong. It's a shame that the PDF version is not offered as an alternative to the print version and save the trees.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a very dated classic, August 25, 2001

By 

alex. (Menlo Park, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Dancing (Da Capo series in dance) (Hardcover)

i don't know what the all-caps reviewer here was smoking, but this book definitely doesn't contain "the best info on one step, tango and waltz". first off, it doesn't deal with the one-step. (it does treat the castle's version of the one-step, called the castle walk.) secondly, saying that two early american ballroom dancers provide the best information on an austrian and an argentinian dance form is silly. thirdly, it hardly has "the best info" on anything. it has funny posed pictures and very dated descriptions which are rather a pain to learn from. if you're a dance historian, this book is great, though. the dancing of vernon and irene castle is usually seen as the beginning of american ballroom dance, and that alone makes this book interesting. as one of the other reviewers pointed out, the chapters on the dansant and clothing are most amusing. some of the stabs at the turkey trot, the grizzley, etc. are rather fun, too. in short, unless you are a serious dance historian, look somewhere else.