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| Originally posted by phil.samways:
i've not been able to get hold of a copy of Guy Howard's manual. It seems to be permanently unavailable The IDTA won't themselves sell it to non-members. They seem to think that makes them somehow elite! I got mine from Dancesport International in the UK though their web site is currently down for "redevelopment". |
| i see! thanks.
I'm at pre-bronze level. |
| i've not been able to get hold of a copy of Guy Howard's manual. It seems to be permanently unavailable |
| Thanks for your suggestion! I was actually looking for videos selling online too, but I don't know how to pick them, I don't wanna spend money on something that does not worth it , you know?  Are there good videos anyone would recommend? Thanks! kev Originally posted by Champion Dancesport - KC/Mil.: Kev-- I know you didn't ask for this but...if you are a pre-bronze student I would strongly suggest you work from a video. The books are still an excellent tool, and are likely to benefit you immensely (especially if you are an analytical thinker). However, the notation of dance manuals does take some "getting used to". Maybe purchase a book and a corresponding video so that you can get your feet wet that way. Congrats on your willingness to practice alone...a prereq for any competent leading skills  Best wishes! |
| what are the levels on these books?
so if i know the terminology, i should be able to understand the manual right? |
| Kev, I don't have that specific manual. I have some of the dancevision manuals. What i suspect you would get is similarly to the variation of the week on the learning center page of this website, the lady's and men's part detailed on the pages. Originally posted by kev: Hello, Anyone has the technical manual which can be bought from the ballroomdancers bookstore?? https://www.ballroomdancers.com/Shopping/books.aspI want to know what is in the book, the description says: "Technical manual with descriptions of step patterns in the International Standard style of ballroom dancing. Includes Waltz, Tango, Slow Foxtrot and Quickstep in the Associate through Fellowship levels. " So does it describe each pattern in details? how is the description like? do they have lots of dance notations? thanks for whoever answer my question |
| i'm greatly appreciated with your information James! I think i would like to get them later on, but not now as i'm still quite a beginner =) Thank you to everyone who replied this thread. Cheers, kev Originally posted by Dronak: I suspect others have given you the information you need, but I'll reply anyway. The books on that page you linked to are the ISTD syllabus technique books. They're basically meant to be used by teachers for learning the information that they need to pass teaching examinations. Lots of students have them though, too, because they do contain a lot of useful information. Not everything, you'll still need to make notes, but all the basics of the figures are there. The books cover all syllabus figures for all the international style dances. The figures are separated by teacher titles (student teacher, associate, member, fellow IIRC without checking) but they're basically equivalent to metal level (pre-bronze, bronze, silver, gold). The grey standard book has waltz, tango, foxtrot, and quickstep (the short Viennese waltz syllabus is covered in a separate ISTD publication) and the five red latin books each cover one dance. If you want all five latin dances in one book, look for the older version, before this latest syllabus revision. It won't be quite the same, but it is a lot easier to carry around than five books. You probably won't be able to learn figures from the book, not easily at least, but once you know figures the books are great reminders. You can get similar manuals published by the IDTA. I think someone mentioned the IDTA standard book by Guy Howard and I'll have to admit that I actually like that one better than the ISTD one. It contains all of the same figures except the Bounce Fallaway in foxtrot, some figures aren't described multiple times like in the ISTD books, but that's not a problem, it has additional figures not in the ISTD syllabus, and the charts/tables contain more information. Well, it's the same information actually, but what the ISTD book lists separately below the tables, the IDTA book includes in the tables. BTW, reading the tables does take some practice. If you're a beginning student, you probably don't really need the technique books yet, but you will probably find them helpful later if you stick with ballroom and start to work your way up through the levels, learning more figures. I hope this helps. -- James Marshall marshall@astro.umd.edu) http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall |
| I suspect others have given you the information you need, but I'll reply anyway. The books on that page you linked to are the ISTD syllabus technique books. They're basically meant to be used by teachers for learning the information that they need to pass teaching examinations. Lots of students have them though, too, because they do contain a lot of useful information. Not everything, you'll still need to make notes, but all the basics of the figures are there. The books cover all syllabus figures for all the international style dances. The figures are separated by teacher titles (student teacher, associate, member, fellow IIRC without checking) but they're basically equivalent to metal level (pre-bronze, bronze, silver, gold). The grey standard book has waltz, tango, foxtrot, and quickstep (the short Viennese waltz syllabus is covered in a separate ISTD publication) and the five red latin books each cover one dance. If you want all five latin dances in one book, look for the older version, before this latest syllabus revision. It won't be quite the same, but it is a lot easier to carry around than five books. You probably won't be able to learn figures from the book, not easily at least, but once you know figures the books are great reminders. You can get similar manuals published by the IDTA. I think someone mentioned the IDTA standard book by Guy Howard and I'll have to admit that I actually like that one better than the ISTD one. It contains all of the same figures except the Bounce Fallaway in foxtrot, some figures aren't described multiple times like in the ISTD books, but that's not a problem, it has additional figures not in the ISTD syllabus, and the charts/tables contain more information. Well, it's the same information actually, but what the ISTD book lists separately below the tables, the IDTA book includes in the tables. BTW, reading the tables does take some practice. If you're a beginning student, you probably don't really need the technique books yet, but you will probably find them helpful later if you stick with ballroom and start to work your way up through the levels, learning more figures. I hope this helps. -- James Marshall marshall@astro.umd.edu http://www.astro.umd.edu/~marshall |
| The books are intended to form the basis for dance teacher's professional examinations at Associate, Licentiate/Member and Fellowship levels. The figures are also used as the syllabus for Bronze, Silver and Gold medals.
The Imperial Society (ISTD) book is based on work by Alex Moore. There is a similar manual for the International Dance Teachers Association (IDTA) by Guy Howard which I personally prefer.
The books include definitions of terms such as CBM, CBMP, alignment etc but they are _not_ intended as "teach yourself" books. At examination, a dance teacher is expected to quote from the book and also explain what it means.
You don't say what dance experience you have but I would regard the books as a reference for use after receiving instruction from a good teacher. |
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