Introduction

Welcome to The Dance Store's Online Learning Center! We are proud to offer this wealth of free information for dance enthusiasts of all skill levels. You'll find information pertaining to many ballroom and Latin dances—moves, music, history and helpful tips and information. You'll also find free instructional video downloads for most of these dances, each displaying basic steps that will get you started.

Continue reading the section below to find out more about using The Dance Store's Online Learning Center or, if you prefer, use the selections on the right or the popup navigation to the left to jump right in!

Using the Learning Center

The Dance Store Online Learning Center is divided into separate Learning Areas based on dance type. You can find available dances by using the list above. Additionally, from any page, you can use the convenient popup navigation that is available by hovering your mouse over the Learning Center button on the left.

Learning Areas

Once you've selected the Learning Area for the dance style you are interested in you'll find quite a bit of information before you. You have two options:

Start at the top and read everything!
Go straight to section you are interested in.

To find specifically what you are looking for use the subnavigation that you'll see on each page under the heading '(Insert Dance) Learning Area'. The main Learning Area pages are divided into four sections: The Moves, The Music, History and Tips & Info. Selecting any one of these will take you directly to that portion of the page. The amount of content in these sections varies but you'll always find sufficient information to give you a good grounding in what each dance is about.

Additional Music Resources

Under The Music section of each Learning Area you'll find a link to a second Music Examples page which provides useful lists of music suited to the style of dance you are interested in. This page will include a list of individual songs appropriate to that style as well as a list of compact disc recordings that contain examples of the dance style.

Free Instructional Videos

To the right of most Learning Area pages you'll see a box entitled Free Video Instruction. That's just what you'll find! Most dance styles have a video showing basic steps and moves. Lasting somewhere around 5 minutes apiece, these videos are available in four common formats: Windows Media, Quicktime, RealPlayer and Flash. These are large files so downloading each might take a few minutes. For more information on using these free instructional videos, for their download times, or if you need to download the software to view them, please visit the Video Help page.

Dancer's Dictionary

We've also included a Dancer's Dictionary to help you look up terms related to dancing that you might want a clear definition of. In many cases our definitions also include links to elsewhere in the site for more detailed information. You can find the Dancer's Dictionary by clicking its link in the lefthand navigation, or by clicking here.

Starting Over

If you are done browsing a particular Learning Area scroll to the top or use a 'Back to top' link. To return to this page you can select the '<<Learning Center Intro' link from the top of the page or select the 'Learning Center' button in the lefthand navigation. You can also always use the popup navigation to select a new Learning Area that interests you.
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