learn to dance 3
Learning to Dance Dancing has been described as poetry in motion. By observing the similarity between the rhythm of speech, particularly as applied to poetry, and the rhythm of motion, as applied to dancing, anyone who can recite a simple jingle in rhythm can learn to dance. Occasionally a person will come to our studio and insist that he absolutely has no rhythm. We frequently ask such persons to read: "Mary Had a Little Lamb." After pointing out to them that they do have a sense of rhythm, or they could not have recited this poem in perfect meter, they develop confidence enough to apply themselves to learning rhythm of movement. I have never met a person who could speak, who could not recite poetry rhythmically. Reciting poetry, naturally, is easier for most people than moving the body in perfect rhythm. Some people learn to coordinate more easily than others, but with practice it can be learned, and it is simply not true that you, or anyone else, cannot learn to dance because you do not have a sense of rhythm. If you are a beginner who has never danced at all, you can, if you apply yourself, learn all of the steps presented in this book. If you are already enrolled in a dancing class, you can use this book as a supplement and as a guide for practice at home. In dancing, as in any other art, practice brings perfection. If you are an advanced dancing student, or a teacher, you can find aid and inspiration here by acquiring a new viewpoint, as the author has found valuable aid in the dancing books he has studied throughout his career.