I am the secretary and sometimes vice-president of the Ballroom dance club at my university. This year we are paying most of our money to an outside instructor to do our yearly V. Waltz lessons, which means for the rest of the semester we have no money.

So I volenteered to teach Samba, which no one else in the club knows. I would like to find another brand new dance for the students to do, since many of them have been coming for lessons for four years and we keep doing the same dances over and over.

I was thinking of Pace Doble, but I don't know enough of it. Does anyone know where I could get just some diagrams or written instructions on a few basic steps of Pace Doble for both man and woman? Or can anyone suggest another slightly more obscure ballroom dance?

Why an obscure dance? There are plenty of non-ballroom social dances like Salsa, Lindy, Shag, Merengue, Argentine Tango, Flamenco and such which could be used to spice up your program.

Paso Doble is an excellent dance in any case but I would suggest that you teach the International style rather than the American style. Does your club do mostly American style? Then try International. If you do International then try Mambo or Bolero...there are so many choices! However, someone has to learn the dance in order to teach it...there's the rub when $ is a factor. Stick with Corky and Shirley's beginner Paso video and you can't go wrong for footwork. Also, I think the bronze video is only $30 (Dancevision.com)

We coach two large university teams here in the midwest I understand your money issues! There are lots of things you can do though, creative solutions ya know...drop me an email if you want help or ideas!

ChampionDancesportKC@comcast.net

Hi Ralph- Yeah Corky's monologues can be pretty over the top at times...but you can't argue with him once he stops talking and starts dancing! I had wondered if other people were surprised by his video tape antics...whenever I see a new video with him I can't wait to see what new quirky monologue he has cooked up.

M

If you're specifically looking for a book with diagrams and descriptions, you might try some of the books authored by Paul Bottomer. I got a copy of a book, I believe entitled "Let's Dance!: Learn to Swing, Jitterbug, Rumba, Tango, Line Dance, Lambada, Cha-Cha, Waltz, Two-Step, Foxtrot and Salsa With Style, Grace and Ease," through my local public library. Despite the exhausting title, the book actually covers several more dances as well, including a few basic steps of Paso Doble. The book is a hardcover, oversized edition of some 200-300 pages, lavishly illustrated with both "sequuence stills" of couples dancing and a many "foot-patterns" as well.

The downside may be that the book, and so far as I know, virtually all of Bottomer's books, are written for the International or Club Styles, not American Style.

Most of the steps provided are very basic (for all dances, not just Paso Doble). If you're unfamiliar with the dance, you will also miss a lot that simply doesn't fit well into a "book" format. I'll agree with Mallee that a video will give you much more of an idea about the stylistic requirements of the dance than this book will. I'm familiar with the Dancevision tape Mallee (hello again!) wrote of, and I'll echo her endoresement (though personally I find the persona adopted by Corky Ballas to be "a bit much"). If you've never bought from Dancevison before, it would make financial sense to buy a second (more expensive) tape to capitalize on their Introductory Offer.

Doing a few quick serches:

Dancevison Intro Offer and Tape description:
http://dancevision.com/buyers_guide/shopping_guide/hot_deals_specials_promotions/59/
http://dancevision.com/store/videos/browse_by_instructors/corky_shirley_ballas/international_latin_syllabusfigures/ISCB39/

If you don't have an up-to-date browser, you might have trouble accessing the Dnacevison pages. I found something on Amazon that I *think* is the book I described; in any case, I've made the title I gave up conform to it!

Good luck and have fun!

R