So You Think You Can Dance Canada just ended a couple of weeks ago. Is your kid up next?
With all the dance shows on TV these days, more and more people – from tweens on up – are looking to learn a few moves of their own. This new book is a perfect place to start! 
Learn to Speak Dance
by Ann-Marie Williams
OwlKids
ISBN: 978 1 9268918 89 4
Audience: ages 9 to adult
This dance book is not about the classics – it’s about learning how to move and finding your own groove. It stresses that anyone can dance, and talks about what dance is and why we do it.
The author has done a lot of thinking about movement, breaking dance down into fundamental elements and illustrating the differences with examples drawn from pop culture – including those dance reality shows. This makes for an approachable and easy-to-understand vocabulary and a clear way to think about what makes a dance look the way it does.
She is also a teacher, though, so while she talks about having fun and mixing up styles, she also talks basics about practicing, learning the core moves, and figuring out how to dance with others. There is a section on choreography, and how to start something from scratch and make it repeatable, and for kids who want to get serious, she talks about forming a crew, auditioning, and performing, including a nod to the tech crews that make a stage performance hum. If taking it pro is really in the plans, more information on promoting, fundraising, networking, shooting videos, and hiring a manager give you a little sketch of what to expect.
On the whole, for a kid who might be feeling inspired to make dance their life, this book gives some really solid tips from a pro dance teacher, and a good look at what it takes. Whether this gives your kid a guide a reality check, it’s a well-thought-out, nicely designed, and very straightforward look at what you need to know.
I need this for me!!!!