Book Review of Teach Like a Pro--The Ultimate Guide for Ballroom Dance Instructors

Ballroom instructors! If you want to attract more students and maximize your teaching success, Teach Like a Pro is a book that has been written especially for you!


Date added to ADN: Monday, Jun 11 2012
Originally Published: Monday, Apr 16 2012
By Rachel Holland

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Teach Like a Pro: The Ultimate Guide for Ballroom Dance Instructors

by Diane Jarmolow (published by Ballroom Dance Teachers College; $99.95)

Review by Rachel Holland

Ballroom instructors! If you want to attract more students and maximize your teaching success—along with your earnings potential—then at long last there is a book that has been written especially for you!

Fancy taking your career as a ballroom dance instructor to the next level? Then grab yourself a copy of 'Teach Like a Pro – The Ultimate Guide for Ballroom Dance Instructors' by Diane Jarmolow with Brandee Selck. As an investment in your future ability to both attract students and increase your earnings, this book will pay off in dividends.

Highly accessible, this book is designed to take teachers by the hand and lead them onwards and upwards to improve their practices via a thorough grounding in all aspects of ballroom teaching. Teachers at any and all levels will find something new to learn from this wealth of information finally available to ballroom instructors. With 304 pages all combining to provide you with a comprehensive compendium of practical knowledge, the art and science of teaching ballroom dancing is broken down into bite-size chunks of accessible, detail-rich information.

The book covers all the fundamentals to becoming an outstanding dance teacher from A through Z. It takes an in-depth look at the technical language of dance (rise and fall, alignment, footwork, etc.), gives a detailed explanation of music and how it fits together with dancing, tackles teaching basic technique, explores teaching beginners and wedding couples, and provides a how-to for doing competitions, showcases and medal tests with students. It concludes with advice on better selling your dance lessons and being successful in the dance business. The book's structure allows for jumping in and out at various sections of each chapter so you can go directly to the information most relevant to you. With plenty of photographs of the various steps, handy bullet points of tips and advice, and well-designed diagrams, the book can be dipped into between classes to refresh your knowledge before teaching.

Written by the creator and founder of the Ballroom Dance Teachers College, now implemented in over 60 institutions throughout the world, the perceptive reader can relax knowing that they are in the hands of somebody who walks the walk as well as talks the talk. For decades, Diane Jarmolow has actively been improving the written language of ballroom dance. A DVIDA National Examiner, she authored many of the DVIDA manuals and originated their innovative system of professional certification. She also co-created Move like a Champion, a revolutionary program for ballroom dancers to learn how their skeletons work to produce beautiful, efficient dancing. Her writing style is informal yet informed and her vast experience resonates in every chapter.

An essential guide for anyone serious about their ballroom teaching career, 'Teach Like a Pro' fully provides dance teachers with all the resources they need to up their game, attract and keep their students, and maximize their success.


About the Author:

Diane Jarmolow is a pioneer in the field of ballroom dancing. She founded the first vocational training for ballroom dance teachers, the Ballroom Dance Teachers College (BDTC). Based in Oakland, California, BDTC has trained hundreds of people to become successful dance instructors. Diane also created BDTC-in-a-Box, which is being used to train teachers in over 60 studios throughout North America, the Caribbean, Argentina and India.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the AccessDance Network. Be aware that imagery is copyrighted and often licensed for use on AccessDance only. Copying of images is strictly prohibited.

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Ballroom Dance Teachers College
Oakland AND San Francisco, CA 94616

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