The best Folk Dancing books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Not sure if this would really be /r/juggling's cup of tea, but Modern Vaudeville Press just released a really interesting monograph on traditional Mongolian contortion. (100pp eBook, narrow scope, definitely not a beach read.)

There are some neat parallels between the history of contortion in Mongolia and the history of Daikagura in Japan, not to mention a pretty wild picture of what the Soviet circus machine did to (what was once) a Mongolian folk dance.

If that does sound like your cup of tea, you can find it over here: https://www.amazon.com/Mongolian-Contortion-ethnographic-Mariam-Ala-Rashi-ebook/dp/B08RY84K18/

The book "The Dancing Goddesses" goes into great depth about the Slavic pagan calendar. It's a nice resource for other folklore too:

https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Goddesses-Folklore-Archaeology-European/dp/0393348504

Weikhart's Teaching Movement and Dance book and the CD accompaniment set.

I'm also interested in this topic and have found a decent amount of stuff in books intended more as general "encyclopedias of fairies" or "encyclopedias of spirits." There'll be a bunch of other stuff in there, but the entries for various water spirits can be useful especially if you start seeing commonalities between them.

And this is going to look kind of off the wall at first glance, but I loved this book: https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Goddesses-Folklore-Archaeology-European/dp/0393348504

It goes into a lot of the female water spirits of Europe and what they meant in their cultures and how they were incorporated into various festivals, some of which is adaptable to a modern practice with some creativity.

Capoeira: The Jogo de Angola from Luanda to Cyberspace
- Really good dry account of Capoeira's historical roots all the way from pre-Portuguese influence.

https://www.amazon.com/Capoeira-Jogo-Angola-Luanda-Cyberspace/dp/1556436017

It has two volumes. I would balance it out with some personal Capoeira books.

This book https://www.amazon.ca/Grandmothers-Secrets-Ancient-Rituals-Healing/dp/1566563267 (sorry for Amazon link) is NOT witchy per say, but I found it incredibly powerful as a woman, and I think that finding that female power made me stronger in every way, including as a witch.

If you’re looking for good reading, I’d recommend to check out Mestre Accordeon’s book

Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form: History, Philosophy, and Practice https://www.amazon.com/dp/0938190296/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2A3kFbKF07GG2

For listening, some classic teachers are Mestre Bimba, Mestre Pastinha, and Mestre Waldemar if you can find old clips on YouTube or elsewhere.

For current big names but contemporaries, Mestre Suassuna, Mestre Acordeon, Mestre Toni Vargas, and Mestre Barrão are all super well known and recognized even outside their respective schools.

More information on the history of tango in this book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QMJ5206/ref=oh_aui_d_asin_title_o01_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Check out Assuncao's book: http://www.amazon.com/Capoeira-History-Afro-Brazilian-Martial-Society/dp/0714680869 It's a bit more scholarly than the others you've mentioned, but it's very good and very in depth.