ABC-CLIO - Series - The American Dance Floor: update

Series Information

The American Dance Floor

Jazz … Rock 'n Roll … Country and Western … Hip Hop. America gave these defining musical genres to the world, while putting its own signature spin on a number of others. But the gift didn’t end with the tunes, the styles, or the performers. America also gave the world the dance steps, and the dancing life, that go with them.

Each volume in this series focuses on a distinctively American form of popular dancing—from ballroom to country and western to hip hop—exploring its historical and cultural roots and defining moves.

Welcome to The American Dance Floor, a new series that highlights a wide range of dance styles that either originated in the United States or found a distinctively American form here.

Each volume in The American Dance Floor series tells the story of a particular style—ballroom, folk dancing, country and western, rock ‘n roll, Latin—from its origins to the media-fueled peak of its nationwide popularity to the present. Each volume also offers vivid portrayals of the times and places that produced these dances, from the Depression era southwestern ballrooms where Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys fueled the “Western Swing” craze to New York block parties that gave birth to hip hop in the 1970s.

Highlights
• Explores a variety of uniquely American forms of dance
• Traces the cultural origins of a number of dance styles, portraying each in its social and historical context
• Highlights the role of the media—radio, television, film, and the Internet—in fueling the popularity of specific dance genres

Features
• Separate volumes in distinctive American, and American-ized dance styles, including ballroom, folk dancing, country and western, rock ‘n roll, and Latin dancing
• Photos of dancers, dance halls, dance in movies, and more
• Bibliographic listings of print and nonprint resources for further reading
• A comprehensive index

Country & Western Dance

Ralph G. Giordano

Print $35.00

# 978-0-313-36554-6