Dancing Through Life: Lessons Learned On and Off the Dance Floor

Though the title might evoke thoughts of spinning lithely around life's troubles, anyone who has participated in dance can tell you things get bruised and broken along the way. Benevento, a former national ballroom dancing champion, knows all too well that, despite the elegance of the Waltz or the energy of the Cha Cha, anyone can find themselves flat on their butt. So how does one recover? A few of Benevento's to-the-point tips will certainly help: ""be gentle with yourself,"" give yourself ""permission to begin again-and again and again"" and ""to keep trying is to succeed."" Though her take on ""energy"" is happily offbeat (""desire is the energy that moves us forward,"" dance is ""energy in motion,"" and ""motion can alter the mind""), chapters on ""Silencing the Inner Critic,"" ""Dancing Solo"" and ""Taking the Lead"" may not give readers much new information; still, Benevento's straightforward statements and analogies make her lessons encouraging and easy to follow, and she doesn't waste time on tear-jerking anecdotes or elaborate philosophy. Though it's more re-affirming than inspiring, Benevento's fleet-footed self-help is a good way to feel better about the unavoidable missteps of life.