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Title: Let's Dance: Learn to Swing, Foxtrot, Rumba, Tango, Line Dance, Lambada, Cha-Cha, Waltz, Two-Step, Jitterbug and Salsa With Style, Elegance and Ease
ISBN: 1579120466
Author:
Paul Bottomer
Publicate Date: 1998-01-10
Publish: 1998-01-10
List Price: $19.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $44.88
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $21.10
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| Customer Review: |
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1: BEAUTIFUL BOO K - ALMOST USELESS INFORMATION
BEWARE: This book describes the International Style of ballroom dance. NOT the American style. Perhaps 10% of American dance students are learning International.EXAMPLE: THE WALTZ American Waltz:
The basic figure is a square in which the man starts by stepping forward with the left foot and the dancers return to the starting position in 6 beats, making a square. International Waltz:
The basic figure is a zig-zag. The man starts with the RIGHT foot and the dancers travel around the dance floor in a zig-zag pattern. It would be great if Paul Bottomer would write a similar beautiful book for American ballroom dancers. Dave Palmer
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2: good complement for beginning international dancers
Many of the dances taught in this book are international style. If you plan to dance in the USA, you should know that social dancing is mainly American style for beginners.The book is richly illustrated with photos. However, the angle of the photos changes randomly. So if you see a dance couple facing different directions in consecutive photos, maybe they have turned, or maybe the photographer moved. You have to read the accompanying text to tell. I think this book is a good complement for beginning to advance-beginnning international dancers. You cannot completely rely on the book to learn techniques because while it does touches on them somewhat, it mostly concentrates on dance patterns. It will give you a rough idea of what a particular step looks like and give you the name of the step. If you have learned the step before, this would serve as a good review.
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3: Can't learn how to dance from this book.
It's a good reference book if you know how to dance. If you're a beginner and try to learn from this book, you're in deep trouble. Unless you can translate "move you left foot to left, reflex your right knee, shift your weight on to the left on beat 3" description into movement right away, you'll go through one basic movement in hours. If you want to improve your dance skill, it may be helpful. Since I'm a total beginner, I can't say that for sure.
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4: Good overview of ballroom dance
This book outlines most of the ballroom dances from a pictorial point of view with the assistance of footstep illustrations. Its virtue is it is pretty comprehensive, with most of the ballroom dances discussed. Even some dances considered a little risque, such as the lambada, are discussed in the book. No doubt that professional instructors will find areas of disagreement in the advice and the patterns developed, but no book can cover all the idiosyncrasies of styling that exist in ballroom classes. A good book to have when learning ballroom, and the price is very reasonable.
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5: Disapointed
DisappointedIt looked like a very easy reading book, and it turned out to be a very confusing bunch of steps and pictures. And by the way, I have asked my swing instructor about the steps and he had found some mistakes.
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