Steps to Success
Dance Books
Steps to Success

About the Product

Move with grace and feel confident on the dance floor—step by step! Social Dance: Steps to Success will teach you all the moves for eight popular dance styles:

• Swing
  
• Cha-cha
  
• Foxtrot
  
• Polka
  
• Waltz
  
• Rumba
  
• Tango
  
• Salsa/mambo

Each step in the progression teaches you a new skill, then builds on those skills to develop creative dance routines. The first few steps provide a solid foundation of the basics to help you understand alignment, musical structure, and footwork synchronization with the music. As you progress, you will also learn how to lead and follow, move from one dance position to another, combine dance variations into sequences, and much more.

Every step also explains why the concept or skill is important, identifies the keys to correct technique, helps you avoid common errors, and explains how to practice each skill.

Written by master teacher and dancer Judy Patterson Wright, this book is part of the Steps to Success Activity Series—the most extensively researched and carefully developed set of sport skill instruction books ever published.

Includes music CD!
To help you practice, a compact disc is included that provides 19 tracks for training and practice. The first 8 are training examples (some with voice overs) for identifying the beat, measures, and highlighting general characteristics of selected social dance music. Tracks 9 through 19 include instrumental practice music (average 2 minutes each) for all 8 dances covered in the book.

About the Author

Judy Patterson Wright, PhD, is an accomplished dancer who has taught social dance at the junior high, high school, and college levels since 1971. Dr. Wright's dance experience includes a wide variety of styles: ballroom and social dance, tap dance, jazz, modern dance, ballet, folk dance, square dance, country western dance, line dance, and aerobic dancercise.

She has been recognized as one of the Outstanding Young Women of America (1982) and repeatedly as an Excellent Teacher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has judged and competed in dance competitions, and she specializes in progressive teaching workshops both for social and competitive dancers. Judy and her husband, Sam, placed second overall in the Silver Advanced Showcase Division at the World finals in 1996 and 1997. They are the 1997 World Silver Advanced Showcase cha-cha Champions.

Dr. Wright, currently an acquisitions editor, is the creator of the format for the Steps to Success Activity Series and the author of the companion title Social Dance Instruction: Steps to Success. She resides in Mahomet, Illinois.

Table of Contents

Step 1. Posture, Centering, and Frame: Moving Like a Dancer
Step 2. Music Structure: Hearing Reliable Cues in the Music
Step 3. Ear-Foot Coordination: Connecting With the Music
Step 4. Partner Dynamics and Etiquette: Communicating Effectively
Step 5. Basic Steps, Transitions, and Variations: Preparing to Dance
Step 6. Foxtrot: Dancing Regally
Step 7. Swing: Looking Jazzy
Step 8. Waltz: Moving Stately
Step 9. Polka: Having Fun
Step 10. Cha-Cha: Being Flirtatious
Step 11. Rumba: Reflecting Romance
Step 12. Tango: Expressing Attitude
Step 13. Salsa/Mambo: Adding Flavor
Step 14. Rules of the Road: Demonstrating Good Floor Craft
Step 15. Turn Technique and Styling: Looking Good on the Dance Floor
Step 16. More Dance Options: Adjusting to New Situations

Words of Praise

"Wright provides a thorough, step-by-step approach in instructing prospective Freds and Gingers in body alignment and carriage, music recognition, brief dance histories, and basic and variant footwork. . . . Appropriate for school or public libraries with a demand for recreational dance methods."

Library Journal


"Social Dance: Steps to Success is a real contribution to students and teachers who are involved in ballroom dance training. The systematic teaching outlined in this book has drills to emphasize basic technique. The illustrations and specific success goals are well outlined."

William J. Bennett
Ballroom dance consultant
Member, board of directors, United States Ballroom Dancers Association

NOTE: This is nonreturnable product and all purchases are final.