If you want to teach your class something about partner, folk, social, contra, and ballroom dance, it is here. This book covers everything from A to Z. It even gives you a glossary just in case you did not know some of those square dance calls. And, its many indexes and other additions at the back of the book are fabulous to help you plan and find all kind of relevant material. I wonder what happened to Ms. Pitman and Ms. Walker, co-authors of earlier editons. Yes, I have used Dance A While for years. It was recommended to me in college during the 60's. I lost it and am so happy to see it is still in print. Because, what ever other books I looked at when I needed information never came close to providing what I needed to find out. Thank you Jane Harris for updating and improving a great book.

This is the best book I used for learning how to teach dancing. It contains a good selection of simple dances which are suitable for novice dancers, and provides detailed dance descriptions and good advice for the teacher. The only drawback is that it doesn't come with music, so you have to track down a suitable recording for each dance. I have used this book for teaching recreational folk dance groups and school classes, and find it to be an excellent resource.

"The Nature of Smoke" is OK, cyberpunk. Its about a near-future, have-not women who gets a lucky break and toughs it out to get a better life and almost love.

The cover blurbs on the trade edition seriously over-hype this story. The exhortation to "READ IT OR BLEED IT!" almost lost me. Yes, there is sex, drugs, and violence. And, it is actually well-handled. The novel does not become the tawdry, parody of the genre you might expect from reading the cover. The author's prose is good. Her action scenes are particularly well done. I also believe male characters come off rather well for this niche of the genre. One problem I had was that in some places the author's attention to detail is very good, in others it falls (way) down. In addition, the plot lines also required a "suspension of belief" in places. There were just too many coincidences moving the story along.

"The "Nature of Smoke" is OK. It is not as good as the lesbian, cyberpunk written by Nicole Griffith or Pat Cadigan(which I highly recommend). Read it despite the cover.