List of partner dance books

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

Basic books for the International Style

 * Alex Moore:
 * The Ballroom Technique
 * Ballroom Dancing, an elaboration on the above book (9th Edition, 1986, ISBN 0-7136-2794-8)
 * Popular Variations (numerous reprints and editions since 1954)
 * Victor Silvester, Modern Ballroom Dancing. Stanley Paul, London (first published 1928, 1993 edition ISBN 0-09-178193-0, current edition 2005)
 * Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD):
 * The Ballroom Technique, (numerous reprints and editions since 1948) originally based on a work of the same name by Alex Moore.
 * The Revised Technique of Latin-American Dancing, (reprints and editions since 1971)
 * Popular Variations in Latin-American Dancing, (1982)
 * Guy Howard, Technique of Ballroom Dancing
 * Walter Laird:
 * Technique of Latin Dancing
 * Technique of Latin Dancing Supplement
 * Craig Revel Horwood, Ballroom Dancing, Teach Yourself (2010)

Advanced books for the International Style

 * Christopher R. Willis (FISTD):
 * Leading Competition Figures: Waltz and Foxtrot, ISBN 0991406214; ISBN 978-0991406210
 * Leading Competition Figures: Tango and Quickstep, ISBN 0991406222; ISBN 978-0991406227
 * Competition Figures: Charts and Footpatterns, ISBN 0991406230; ISBN 978-0991406234

Basic books for the American Style

 * Richard M. Stephenson and Joseph Iaccarino, Complete Book of Ballroom Dancing (1992) Main Street Books, ISBN 0-385-42416-7
 * Jeffrey Allen, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Ballroom Dancing, 2nd edition 2006, ISBN 1-59257-577-3

Partner and Social Dance Research and Scholarship

 * Juliet E. McMains (2006) Glamour Addiction: Inside the American Ballroom Dance Industry Wesleyan University Press, ISBN 0-8195-6774-4
 * The first in-depth study of the American DanceSport.
 * Kristine M. McCusker, Diane Pecknold (2004) A Boy Named Sue: Gender and Country Music, University Press of Mississippi, ISBN 1-57806-678-6
 * 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, ISBN 978-0873228305
 * Diane Jarmalow, 2011, Teach Like a Pro, Ballroom Dance Teachers College, ISBN 978-0983526100
 * Rudi Trautz, 2021, The Art of Teaching Social Dancing, ISBN 978-3943599862
 * Thomas Hill, 2022, How to Teach Ballroom Dancing, ISBN 979-8842347698

General

 * Patrice Tanaka, Becoming Ginger Rogers: How Ballroom Dancing Made Me A Happier Woman, Better Partner, and Smarter CEO', BenBella Books (2011) ISBN 978-193666103-9
 * Matt Barber, Beginning Ballroom: Why's, Do's, Don'ts, and Shoes. (2011). ISBN 978-1-4535-5262-9

Other lists

 * The US Library of Congress has a collection of 250+ dance manuals, from 1490 to 1920, with full scans.
 * Library of Dance has a curated list 6000+ of dance books, from the 15th century to today, many of which are partner dance books. 2000+ are downloadable.