Steve Wright's dance background

Steve Wright was trained by some of the world's top professionals. He was a national and international gold and open finalist in all ballroom dances (American and International style). He began competing in ballroom and in West Coast Swing in 2001, and began teaching professionally in 2009 and competing together with his students in "pro/ams" in 2013. He is a popular teacher at the Hollywood Ballroom, and is available for private lessons, "dance-and-learn" practice sessions (typically during social dances, but also at other times), and wedding dance preparation. He teaches American and International ballroom dances, West Coast Swing, Argentine Tango, Salsa and Bachata.

Steve has extensive experience as a teacher, both in dance and in other areas which have interesting commonalities of skill development (guitar and foreign language). His PhD in developmental psychology has given him insight into how people learn. He is innovative in continually coming up with better ways to teach, tries to adapt to individual differences, and is open to feedback. Feel free to contact him to ask about private lessons (email address at the bottom of the page).

Steve Wright's coaches:

Steve's main coach has been Dan Calloway, an excellent coach, and one of very few people in the world honored with a dual fellowship from the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD); he was Asian-Pacific Professional 10-Dance Grand Finalist; U.S. Professional 10-Dance Grand Finalist; and is Chair of Judges at many large competitions.

Steve has also had training from many other top coaches:

Ron Bennett, two-time U.S. Representative to the World Latin Championships; #2 Latin professional in the U.S. at one point.

Karina Smirnoff, who at this writing holds more top titles than any other professional on ABC's "Dancing With The Stars," including two-time Blackpool Professional Latin Runner Up; U.K Open Champion; U.S. Professional Latin Champion.

Jean-Marc Genereux, choreographer on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance"; four-time Undefeated North American Latin Champion; two-time Asian-Pacific Latin Champion.

Debbie Lynn Tuttle, UCWDC Champion; award-winning teacher (multiple years at Swing Fling, Madjam, DC Swing Experience).

Benji Schwimmer, 2006 winner of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance"; 7-time US Open Swing Dance Champion.

Jennifer McCalla, four-time U.S. Representative to the World Championships; four-time Undefeated U.S. Amateur Latin, Standard, and 10-dance Champion.

Ieva Pauksena, 2004 Blackpool Professional Standard Finalist; 2003 World Professional Standard Finalist.

Victor Kanevsky, coach for Eugene Katesevman and Maria Manusova, Karina Smirnoff, Beata Onefater, Max Chemerkovsky, and many more; two-time North American Champion; two-time Ohio Star Ball Champion.

Erminio Stefano, First Place UK Open Professional Rising Star; Runner Up Blackpool Professional Rising Star; First Place Ohio Star Ball 2005.

Victor Fung, Blackpool Professional Standard Finalist; performer on ABC's "Dancing With The Stars."

Anna Mikhed, Blackpool Professional Standard Finalist; performer on ABC's "Dancing With The Stars."

Ariel Rad, ranked 38 in the world at British Professional Latin Championships; Runner up at Dutch Grand Prix Championships.

Eddie Simon, United States ballroom champion, world showdance and U.S. theatrical finalist.

Glenn Weiss, two-time World Champion, Blackpool Champion; International Champion; European Champion; U.K. Champion.

...and others.

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See info about Steve Wright's Tuesday night ballroom dance classes at the Hollywood Ballroom [SUSPENDED].

Visit the webmaster, Dr. Stephen Wright.

Go to the ISTD International Standard Syllabus.
Go to the ISTD International Latin Syllabus.
Go to the NDCA American Smooth Syllabus.
Go to the NDCA American Rhythm Syllabus.

Go to the Main Ballroom Dance Page.

Essential books every serious International style ballroom dancer should have:

• Amazon.com sells an excellent book, Ballroom Dancing, by author of the Standard Syllabus book and president of ISTD Alex Moore, it also has step diagrams, which the Standard Syllabus book doesn't have. Shipping is low ($4 for the first item, $1 additional items). It covers all 5 Standard dances.


• As of today (8/26/13), the best price I found for the individual dance Latin Syllabus books is at the official US-ISTD (United States Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing) site, $20 each plus shipping. Unfortunately, the shipping is $7 for one lightweight paperback. If you buy 4 of the 5 Latin Syllabus books (Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Jive), however, shipping is only $10.
  
  Formerly the best price was at "ballroomdancers.com," where they are now $21-$25 per book + Shipping/Handling. Years ago, shipping costs were $5 (less per book if more than one ordered; for example, $9.50 S/H total for four books), but now you have to enter all your personal information and credit card information, and click on "Pay By Credit Card" before finding out what the shipping costs are.

Sometimes you might get lucky and find a cheaper price on Amazon.

• You can pay a lot more, but a number of sites have essentially the same price (including shipping) as the official US-ISTD site for the Standard Syllabus book, which is entitled: The Ballroom Technique. They also recommend Ballroom Dancing, (mentioned above), as a complementary "perfect companion" volume (by the same author), but it's easier to get it from Amazon.com (and I personally prefer this book; one advantage it has over the The Ballroom Technique is that Ballroom Dancing has foot diagrams. To buy books from the US-ISTD site, go to the Books and Manuals page, or, if they've moved it again since my update, do a Google search (site:http://usistd.org/ books); this is how I found it this time, since there was no longer any obvious link from their homepage.

		Check Amazon...