The popularity of ballroom dancing is increasing dramatically with all age groups and at all social levels. Now Shall We Dance? makes it easy for everyone to get out on the dance floor, with an entertaining, step-by-step instruction course that teaches the samba, cha-cha, foxtrot, waltz, swing, tango, mambo, and rhumba.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Such a tiny book with so much to offer!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Shall We Dance: Eight Classic Ballroom Dances in Eight Quick Lessons (Paperback)
When I first received this tiny book, I was a little disappointed by its size. I couldn't imagine that it would have much to offer. How wrong I was!! Although it is by no means comprehensive, it provided me with many technique tips that other more apparently comprehensive sources did not. For the beginner social dancer, it is an indispensible read.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simple and clear,
By A Customer
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Shall We Dance: Eight Classic Ballroom Dances in Eight Quick Lessons (Paperback)
I got this book to use in addition to some dance classes my husband and I were taking. Though I wouldn't recommend learning to dance from this book (or from any book for that matter), this is the only book I could find that had the dance steps laid out clearly and simply. As a beginning dancer, I didn't want a complicated manual that showed fourteen different foxtrots. "Shall We Dance" was exactly the book we needed when we were having trouble remembering which step was which. I love that you can practice by holding the book between you, since it's laid out so that the leader's dance steps are opposite from the follower's dance steps.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Shall We Look Ridiculous?,
By tangotonite@aol.com (Original 13 Colonies, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shall We Dance: Eight Classic Ballroom Dances in Eight Quick Lessons (Paperback)
I read this book as a result of a very unfortunate experience. I attended a fund raising event with my husband and 3 other couples. My husband and I have been avid social dancers (and competitors) for a few years. Two of the couples have also had some dance instruction and the third couple has always been `the non-dancing couple". The music started and we all headed for the dance floor. I have never felt so badly for anyone as I did for the `non-dancing couple'. They were physically uncomfortable, looked like robots, and were totally off time. These are good friends of mine that I spend time with socially, so I tried to keep the shock out of my voice as I asked them "so, when did you start dancing?" They proceeded to tell me about the book they bought - Shall We Dance. Now I have played tennis and golf with this couple and I know they are physically agile and coordinated, so I asked if I could take a look at this "book" that turned them into such stiff, awkward specimens. What a horror! It quickly becomes very clear that the author knows NOTHING about dancing or what it takes to look good while you are on the dance floor! Closed dance position is skimmed over, as are forward and backward walks with no mention of the geometric accuracy that is necessary when someone takes a good `dance step'. And the side steps - "are taken on the balls of the feet, then lowered to the heels as the feet come together" - that sentence explains why my friends were off time and lurched as they took their forward and back steps. No mention is made of the need to completely change weight when the feet are together in rise or the necessary release of the foot without weight as you lower to the flat foot with weight. How does someone swing his or her leg when both feet are planted on the floor without lurching or using their shoulders to generate movement? In the section on Waltz the author states about the side steps "Dancers should raise their bodies slightly using the ankles..." UGH! Rise with your ankles? Only if you want to look like my friends the "robots"! The glaring errors contained in this book are too numerous to list. No wonder my friends started to dance a Swing to an obvious Foxtrot when this book states, "In the Foxtrot or Swing, the emphasized beats in a four-beat measure are the first and third beats." Add ignorance of music tempi to this author's ignorance of dance. In a Foxtrot the first beat is emphasized - the 1 is the `heaviest beat' with 2,3,4 becoming gradually `lighter' with crescendo to 5, with 6,7,8 getting `lighter'- in Swing the emphasis is on the second and fourth beat allowing a Swing music to actually be counted 1,2; 1,2 - the rhythm is like a heartbeat, that's why people tend to clap along to Swing music! This book is definitely "pretty" in appearance, but unlike "Madison Avenue" I judge a book by its content not its cover! Don't bother.
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