How Do You Dance

Get ready to bop, bounce, and shake with this board book edition ofthe hit picture book from the acclaimed author of Alfie and Fraidyzoo There are so many ways to dance! You can jiggle or wiggle or stomp. You can bop or bounce or go completely nuts. You can dance at the market or the bus stop, with your fingers or your face. You can dance because you’re happy or even because you’re sad. But, what’s the best way to dance? Exactly how you want to! In How Do You Dance?, award-wining author-illustrator Thyra Heder explores dance in all of its creativity, humor, and—most of all—joy, in a celebration of personal expression that will inspire young and old readers alike to get up and get moving.

When an alligator shows up to class one day, Mrs. Iraina and her ballet students are very suprised. But she is able to follow along, so they decide it's okay for her to join. The class starts calling her Tanya and even creates a new dance to showcase her larger-than-life talents and big, swishy tail: "The Legend of the Swamp Queen." Tanya has the starring role.

This dance journal follows author, researcher, and university lecturer Laura Kline as she embarks on a unique journey towards heightened awareness. It records her daily insecurities as a fifty-five-year-old dance student—doing undercover research for her next lesbian romance novel—at her own university. Nervous about joining this high-risk contact improvisation class, she soon realizes what a tremendous opportunity it offers the protagonists, two fictional female dancers who fall in love. Little does she suspect how this course, along with her weekly 5Rhythms® dance sessions, will impact her personal growth and worldview, by forcing her to slow down and experience the intense flavor of each moment. It even enhances her survival skills. When the COVID-19 pandemic hits, her daily journal reflections broaden to include noisy neighbors, walls closing in on her, her partner, and their cat during the sudden stay-at-home order, struggles with teaching remotely, loss of sleep, weight loss, etc. Without realizing it, Laura becomes the protagonist of her own book—this journal. Her lively and humoristic adventure through dance illustrates how becoming present—even for five short minutes while standing still in pure silence—what she calls the Happy Dance—can literally lift people up, providing a safe space to traverse unexpected rocky roads. Her expedition is pebbled with injury and stress, yet she continues dancing. Page by page, with Laura’s stick-figure illustrations, we gradually see how Laura unearths a youthful buoyancy in her musculoskeletal system, lubricating her achy joints, giving them a bounce as she treads barefoot into the kitchen—or masters the moonwalk in her school’s photocopy room. Through a deep exploration of mindful movement and contact improvisation, we observe Laura as she dances her way to greater health, stability, healing, and happiness.

The Solution to Your Biggest Problem in Social Dancing "I just wanted to thank you again for your class tonight. You always get me to dance my best. You have built a simple, logical, understandable system, demonstrably superior to anything that this dancing mouse has seen." ~ Erin King, social dancer This book solves the biggest problem in social dancing. The problem is how to communicate unambiguously. Dance teachers have an enormous wealth of knowledge. However, when explaining how to communicate, they are surprisingly vague. This vagueness is not the fault of dance teachers. Until now, there was no clearly defined method for communicating. This is the most important advance since men and women started dancing together. Be the Smartest Dancer in Your Group "I have been a huge fan of your method. Thanks so much for early access several years ago." ~ Paul Hughes, ballroom dance instructor Learn the language for partner dancing. This book explains how to communicate every step in every social dance following the three laws of balance, connection, and direction. The method is so simple that the main rules fit on a single sheet of paper which you can learn in an afternoon. You learn to communicate as effortlessly in dancing as you do in speaking. For the first time, you have a clearly defined language so you know what to do without confusion. You only need to learn how to communicate once. You apply the same principles with every person in every dance. You understand more. You learn faster. Your dancing is easier. Learn To Dance Gently "We went somewhere else first, but they just tried to teach us a routine. We like what you are doing so much better. You are teaching us how to dance." ~ Tabitha and Don, new dancers You learn how to dance without the use of force. You learn to dance without pushing and pulling. You learn to dance without the use of tension and pressure. The benefits are transformative. You learn to dance safely. You learn to dance naturally. You learn to dance as one with your partner with more freedom to express yourself. You learn to dance as light as a feather.

Now in board book, a playful story urging readers to bop, bounce, and shake from the acclaimed author of Alfie There are so many ways to dance! You can jiggle or wiggle or stomp. You can bop or bounce or go completely nuts. You can dance at the market or the bus stop, with your fingers or your face. You can dance because you're happy or even because you're sad. But, what's the best way to dance? Exactly how you want to! In How Do You Dance?, author-illustrator Thyra Heder explores dance in all of its creativity, humor, and--most of all--joy, in a celebration of personal expression that will inspire young and old readers alike to get up and get moving.

Opposites attract and sparks fly as a passionate dancer and a ladies’ man who's given up on love fall for each other—one tango at a time—in this charming debut romance perfect for fans of Talia Hibbert and Blair Fell. Nick Freeman works hard as the star of the weekly karaoke night at his bar, hoping his singing talent, quick wit, and winning smile will distract from his cerebral palsy. But one night at the bar, watching a professional dancer light up the dance floor with her boyfriend, he realizes that entertaining strangers will never give him a fraction of the joy he sees in this woman’s eyes. When Hayley Burke notices Nick’s reaction to her dancing, she urges him to acknowledge his passion and try a few moves himself—only to be mortified when she realizes Nick can only walk with the aid of a metal walker. As Nick and Hayley fumble through misunderstanding into friendship, Hayley begins to enjoy Nick’s company more than that of her self-centered boyfriend. Nick tries to fight his attraction to Hayley, believing she deserves a dance partner who can move like her boyfriend does—but as Hayley and Nick continue to find their rhythm together, she shows him that “dancing” is about so much more than moving your feet. In this fresh-voiced and utterly charming debut novel, Jason B. Dutton takes readers on a swoon-filled journey as two lost souls learn that neither physical disability nor emotional scars disqualify us from finding beauty, validation, and love amidst the chaos of being human.

Dancing embodies cultural history and beliefs, and each dance carries with it features of the place where it originated. Influenced by different social, political, and environmental circumstances, dances change and adapt. American dance evolved in large part through combinations of multiple styles and forms that arrived with each new group of immigrants. Perspectives on American Dance is the first anthology in over twenty-five years to focus exclusively on American dance practices across a wide span of American culture. This volume and its companion show how social experience, courtship, sexualities, and other aspects of life in America are translated through dancing into spatial patterns, gestures, and partner relationships. This volume of Perspectives on American Dance features essays by a young generation of authors who write with familiarity about their own era, exploring new parameters of identity and evaluating a wide variety of movement practices being performed in spaces beyond traditional proscenium stages. Topics include "dorky dancing" on YouTube; same-sex competitors on the TV show So You Think You Can Dance; racial politics in NFL touchdown dances; the commercialization of flash mobs; the connections between striptease and corporate branding; how 9/11 affected dance; the criminalization of New York City club dancing; and the joyous ironies of hipster dance. This volume emphasizes how dancing is becoming more social and interactive as technology opens up new ways to create and distribute dance. The accessible essays use a combination of movement analysis, thematic interpretation, and historical context to convey the vitality and variety of American dance. They offer new insights on American dance practices while simultaneously illustrating how dancing functions as an essential template for American culture and identity. Contributors: Jennifer Atkins | Jessica Berson | J. Ellen Gainor | Patsy Gay | Ansley Jones | Kate Mattingly | Hannah Schwadron | Sally Sommer, Ph.D. | Ina Sotirova | Dawn Springer | Michelle T. Summers | Latika L. Young | Tricia Henry Young