Reviews of Dance Books and Videos
Levinson, Ronnen. "Much Ado About Ballroom Dancing"
. Reviewed by Heather Diodati
Heres a little guide for beginning to intermediate dancers who want to learn more about things like leading and following, and etiquette than concentrating only on steps. Ronnen Levinson has given us a very well-written book complete with hints on the best way to practice your dancing in order to improve; wonderful pointers on leading and following; the similarities in some of the dances as well as technique tips for specific figures and dances.
As well, Ronnens sense of humor shows throughout the book and makes for a very enjoyable read. For example, in the Leading and Following chapter, Ronnen directs a comment to those who still look down at their feet while dancing to say Since you will always find your feet at the bottom of your legs, youre unlikely to learn anything useful by looking down.
Theres a good listing of music, including some very modern tunes such as songs by Madonna and Celine Dion, for each dance along with an explanation of tempo including a chart showing the ranges in MPM (measures per minute) for each dance which is excellent if you want to DJ a dance party or are the DJ for your dance school (which is what we used to do between practicing), or you just want to be sure of the tempos if youre compiling your own CDs. Ronnen also has a chapter on compiling your own dance music as well as another chapter on playing music as dance parties.
At the end of the book youll find Appendix A with a list of 10 songs for each of 16 dances commonly played at dance parties and Appendix B lists a large section of links that are referenced in this book.
All of these and much more (!) are in this one comprehensive little book. A must for your ballroom dance library!
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