Ballroom Icons is in the race for the Independent Publisher Awards and Best Book Arts Craftsmanship.

The Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs) honor the year’s best books from independent and small press publishers in 69 categories, 11 regions, and 12 Outstanding Books of the Year.

Judging is well on the way and results will be published May 5th.

Stay tuned for more!

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”, Spanish-American philosopher, poet, and humanist George Santayana once stated. Brigitt Mayer, head of the new historical committee and author/publisher of Ballroom Icons believes that the past has to be remembered and recorded actively, not only to prevent instances like this, but more importantly in the case at hand to be able to remember heritage, reflect upon it, make more informed decisions for the future and install or increase a sense of pride and belonging in members of an international system/historical society like the World Dance Council.

The first step of the Historical Committee to aid in this attempt is to set up a web-archive, online databases with chronological record of significant events influencing the ballroom dance institution and the World Dance Council and if at all possible find explanation of their causes. Brigitt Mayer, with the assistance of advertising and web-specialist George Pytlik will format and then propose a basic layout and structure to the educational department as soon as May 2011 in Blackpool. Together with another member of the historical committee with his specialty field/education in history; Mr. Don Herbison-Evans and hopefully others, the group is going to continuously fill the archive with content; i.e. viewing, scanning and digitalizing documents, pictures and old film-materials as well as corresponding with a team of senior advisors regarding accuracy of content/timelines etc and then file it. Senior advisors, who have committed to the Historical Committee so far, are Peter Eggleton, Bryan Allen and Anthony Hurley with many more of their contemporaries to be suggested and recruited in different locations.

In this, the committee depends largely on the assistance and the generosity of individuals as well as national associations world-wide to create documents with records i.e. results, biographies etc, and also find and submit old materials to the Historical Committee of the Department of Education in the World Dance Council. This has the additional benefit of creating individual national histories for the country members to even be used for their own records.

The archive should become comprehensive, informative and easy to use, to attract beyond the boundaries of the ballroom dance genre members of the media, students and scholars alike for their individual research and thus broaden recognition.

At the same time a series of lecture presentations is being structured, which will give audiences all over the world a stroll through ballroom dance history and the development of the style using much film and picture material as well as dance couples to demonstrate when feasible.

Today’s World Dance Council was formed 1950 under the name International Council of Ballroom Dancing (ICBD). As an international body of dance teachers, with P.J. Richardson as chairman, and Arthur Franks as honorary secretary, this new international body assumed the responsibility of approving World Championships. Its founding members were Australia, Austria, Belgium, Ceylon, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, South Africa and Switzerland. Today the responsibilities of the oldest international ballroom dance association go way beyond that first task and the Historical Committee within the Department of Education of the World Dance Council is committed to assist the Department of Education in becoming a strong, leading international entity within the vast amount of educational dance institutions worldwide.

Congratulations Brigitt on producing a truly unique and wonderful book. 

I have been away from the danceworld for 30 years and only recently discovered your book mentioned on the internet.

I ordered a copy and it arrived today!  My first husband, John Thornton, and I were the first couple from Queensland [Australia] to go to London to study dancing.  John Thornton and I, and John Kimmins came from the same dance studio in Toowoomba.  John and I arrived in London in 1969. John and Carol Kimmins and Philip and Jan Nicholas [from Brisbane] arrived in London about 1 year later.  John Thornton and I danced in London from 1969 to 1977.  We were 3rd in the World Amateur [Standard] in 1972 and 1973, and 3rd in the World Professional [Standard]in 1976. 

Your book brings back many wonderful memories for me of my coaches, my fellow competitors, and the judges and organizers whom we encountered in England, Europe, and USA during our dancing years, from 1969 to 1979.

Thank you, Wendy

Say it with Ballroom Icons.

In time for gift-giving we are offering a 25% discount from this web-page and through all our vendors.

Save more than $30! Limited time opportunity to save on this spectacular book, a perfect Christmas gift for yourself, your studio, or a dancer you care about!

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This newspaper article about Ballroom Icons appeared August 27 in the paper of U.H. Mayer’s home town of Reutlingen, in Germany.

 As a young freelance photographer, his photos often graced the pages of this paper.

View the article

Two more German papers asked for interviews with author Brigitt Mayer-Karakis and photographer U.H. Mayer.

NRZ (Neue Ruhr Zeitung) counts among the biggest regional newspapers in Germany, and is the major newspaper of the Rhine and Ruhr region. This article about Ballroom Icons appeared August 25.

Click on the link below to see the whole article in a PDF

• View the article

Received from Shirley Wall, editor of the Australian Dance Review.                                                                                                                               Her interest was of course with the Australians mentioned in the book; so special attention goes to Alf and Julie Davies as well as Mickey Powell and John Kimmins. Just click on the link below to read the full article. Enjoy!

Ballroom Icons Book Review Australia

This years British Open just started and if you have never been there, or always wanted to know what the hype is all about, just click on the link below and find out how and when this historic event started and why it became what it is today!

Brigitt Mayers Article on Blackpool, Dance Beat April 2010

Blackpool is just around the corner, so don’t forget: DanceSport International (DSI) carries Ballroom Icons! If you did not have a chance to look inside the book yet; there you can!

Also, DSI is our wholesale distributor for the continent. European vendors interested in carrying the book should contact DSI and speak to Malcolm Hearn.

Now enjoy another Britsh Open Dance Festival, yours truly Brigitt Mayer