List of partner dance books


Listed below are books that describe the techniques of various partner dances.

Ballroom dancing

Basic books for the International Style

  • Alex Moore:
  • *The Revised Technique
  • *Ballroom Dancing
  • *Popular Variations
  • Victor Silvester, Modern Ballroom Dancing. Stanley Paul, London
  • Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing :
  • *The Ballroom Technique, based on The Revised Technique by Alex Moore.
  • *The Revised Technique of Latin-American Dancing
  • *Popular Variations in Latin-American Dancing
  • Guy Howard, Technique of Ballroom Dancing
  • Walter Laird:
  • *Technique of Latin Dancing
  • *Technique of Latin Dancing Supplement
  • Craig Revel Horwood, Ballroom Dancing, Teach Yourself

    Advanced books for the International Style

  • Christopher R. Willis :
  • *Leading Competition Figures: Waltz and Foxtrot, ;
  • *Leading Competition Figures: Tango and Quickstep, ;
  • *Competition Figures: Charts and Footpatterns, ;

    Basic books for the American Style

  • Richard M. Stephenson and Joseph Iaccarino, Complete Book of Ballroom Dancing Main Street Books,
  • Jeffrey Allen, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Ballroom Dancing, 2nd edition 2006,

    Partner and Social Dance Research and Scholarship

  • Juliet E. McMains Glamour Addiction: Inside the American Ballroom Dance Industry ''Wesleyan University Press,
  • :The first in-depth study of the American DanceSport.
  • Kristine M. McCusker, Diane Pecknold A Boy Named Sue: Gender and Country Music, University Press of Mississippi'',
  • :About roles gender plays in creating and marketing the Country /Western musical and dance forms.

    Partner and Social Dance Teaching

This list contains books that provide guidance for how to teach partner/social dancing. It does not include books, such as The Dancing Master, that primarily focus on the dance steps or technique, rather than on how to teach.
  • Edith Ballwebber, 1938, Group Instruction in Social Dancing, A. S. Barnes & Company, Inc
  • Dorothy Norman Cropper, 1939, Teacher's Manual of Ballroom Dancing, IHRA Publishing Co.
  • August Harris & Donnabel Keys, 1940, Teaching Social Dance, Prentice-Hall, Inc
  • Alma Heaton, 1965, Techniques of Teaching Ballroom Dance, Brigham Young University
  • Judy Patterson Wright, 1996, Social Dance Instruction, Human Kinetics Publishers,
  • Diane Jarmolow, 2011, Teach Like a Pro, Ballroom Dance Teachers College,
  • Rudi Trautz, 2021, The Art of Teaching Social Dancing,
  • Thomas Hill, 2025, How to Teach Ballroom Dancing,

    General

  • Patrice Tanaka, Becoming Ginger Rogers: How Ballroom Dancing Made Me A Happier Woman, Better Partner, and Smarter CEO', BenBella Books
  • Matt Barber, Beginning Ballroom: Why's, Do's, Don'ts, and Shoes..

    Other lists

  • The US Library of Congress has a , from 1490 to 1920, with full scans.
  • Library of Dance has a , from the 15th century to today, many of which are partner dance books. 2000+ are downloadable.