"In the post-Strictly world, this book makes a most valuable contribution to the leisure studies literature and to feminist work more widely. It provides a well-researched, fascinating qualitative study of dance and in particular of the attraction of ballroom dancing, why people do it and of ballroom dancing as a cultural phenomenon. Vicki Harman really gets inside the field and demonstrates how social and gender relations play out on the dance floor." (Kath Woodward, Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, The Open University, UK) "This is a unique insight into the sociological problem of ballroom dancing, as gender, culture and leisure. Vicki Harman provides an excellent combination of rich ethnographic data and critical analysis to situate the practice in the lives of its participants." (Karl Spracklen, Professor of Music, Leisure and Culture, Leeds Becket University, UK) "In this engaging, ethnographic account Vicki Harman gives us an insight into the many ways in which gender matters -- and is contested -- in the world of amateur Ballroom and Latin American dancing. In doing so she makes an important contribution to the sociology of culture, feminist leisure studies, and gender studies." (Sarah Moore, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Bath, UK) "Vicki Harman has produced a wonderful ethnography of gender and ballroom dancing as serious leisure.

She shows how to do a broad study of gender by getting the 'big picture' of its fit with the activity itself." (Robert A. Stebbins, FRSC, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Canada).