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Reading is an activity that I feel I never have enough time to fit in. Sadly, I’d have to admit I probably don’t even read one book a year, however, when someone does pass on a book to me, I usually devour it with a few days. Generally, the only books I do read are biographies. If I’m going to spend any of my free time on reading, it better be on something that inspires! Biographies always fascinate me and it’s very interesting to see how people have become who they are, what they’ve overcome, and how they’ve reached their goals.

So, recently, another dancer passed a book on to me written by Three-Time World Champion Sharon Savoy, entitled “Ballroom!”, which I promptly read on my every free moment. I remember, when I was a young dancer in the ballroom world, seeing pictures the Savoys from a calendar they produced with images of their incredible poses and lifts set to a background of various landmarks around the world. In fact, some of these images are in the book. In reading the book, it was interesting to learn how some of them were developed and the combination of strength, flexibility, and imagination that was needed to produce these spectacular feats of physics and partnering.

Savoy’s book relates the story of one fateful year at the Blackpool Dance Festival when she and her husband/partner, David, achieved victory as Blackpool Exhibition Champions. Peppered in between the retelling of that event, are glimpses into the past of how she began her love affair with dance and the path of her professional career. Throughout the book, Savoy takes the reader into the mind of a dancer, the sacrifice, drive and devotion, along with an insight into the the world of ballroom. This insight includes the mental process of competing, complications of partnerships, even the behind-the-scenes political scheming, and Savoy unabashedly provides honest commentary on it all.

The style in which Savoy writes is the same in which she dances-with her heart on her sleeve. She lays it all out there, and the reader can surely feel with her the true devotion, in fact her life, that she has given to her craft. As she says about herself, “Whether I performed or competed, I left it all on the floor.”

Every dancer will relate to this personal story of what it takes to become a champion. You can order a copy of “Ballroom!” by Sharon Savoy through this link: