Companion Workbook Structure

Determined the structure of the Companion Workbook for Partnership Dancing™. This is the book with the exercises. The intent of the workbook is to teach Partnership Dancing™ through exercises.

The book teaches Partnership Dancing™ through explanations.

One of the things I love about Partnership Dancing™ is that the ideas write themselves. The structure of the workbook is a wonderful example.

After mucking around with the lessons in the workbook, I was not thrilled with the structure. I added lessons as I needed to explain ideas. I was thinking about how would I teach Partnership Dancing™ to a new dancer by having them do exercises to experience the concepts. Did not have any plan in place. When I got to a new idea, if there was a prerequiste, I added the prerequiste as a lesson before the new idea.

Started to consolidate the structure and suddenly the structure wrote itself. Not only did the structure encompass what I had written so far, but the structure completed the process adding the last two elements that I had not thought about yet.

The structure is now beautifully organized logically and elegant in simplicity.

The funny thing is, I did not write it. Of course, I was the one that wrote it, but I feel like I was writing down something I witnessed and not making up something from my head.

Partnership Dancing™ has done this repeatedly, revealing its inner consistency when I have been able to strip away all the nonsense I pile on top.

This is a big deal for a writer. When the ideas are organized logically and simply, as I said, they write themselves. The author only needs to type.

When the ideas are in a cluttered pile, the author has to go eat some cookies and take a nap. Equally productive, but not as professionally rewarding.

Here is the structure as revealed by Partnership Dancing™, excerpted from the Companion Workbook.

What Is in this Workbook

This workbook teaches you the method of Partnership Dancing™ through exercises.

Novice level covers the Social Dance Contract and the Law of Balance. You learn what you should and should not do when dancing with a partner. You learn not to do anything bad, so you can safely proceed to dancing with a partner.

Beginner level covers the Law of Connection. You learn how to communicate with your partner through altering your balance.

Intermediate level covers the Law of Direction. You learn how to signal your partner to do more than one step at a time. You learn how to communicate so you can do all the choreography in
every social dance.

Advanced level covers new possibilities in social dancing made possible by Partnership Dancing™.