INTRODUCTION

I STUMBLED UPON Ms. Skippy Blair's innovative Universal Unit System of Dance Education and Annotation through  a niece while vacationing in Los Angeles in June 1997. Jenni Cabrera belatedly remembered she still had a reference book from her social dance class at the University of California a few years back, and showed it to me. I had discovered a gold mine. 
     Ms. Blair brought me back to the root of all dance. I tried to absorb everything I could from her 3-hour class which focused on the Waltz, prompting me to recall the "down-up-up" movement of the classic dance. She clearly explained the logical mechanics of the movement, which I had forgotten, and merely assumed. 
     Hers was such a refreshingly appealing approach to learning dance, very  much like an adult literacy class. The session was a teachers' class but the approach could easily be replicated for beginners. A very similar approach is now used by the Heritage Dance Center. 
     Ms. Blair's Universal Unit System is the basis for the dance annotations in this book but are by no means limited to her annotations. As with the dance principles and techniques shared here, many of the dance patterns are a compendium of researches from various sources, observations of step variations and sequences used in the Philippines, and the author's personal experiences, discoveries and analyses. 
     This book is for the Amateur Dancer who will soon realize that dancing is really easy to learn once they discover the rules. It in not necessary to keep in stock an endless number of variations. More important is the graceful and confident execution of even just the few basic patterns of each dance.   As Ms. Blair says:  "Its not a crime to be a beginner, but it sure is a crime  to look like one."  In the end, even the beginner dancer can be a choreographer for his own purpose and for  entertainment. 
     It is also for the Professional Dancer who wishes to rediscover the underlying principles, techniques and rules of movement and music applicable to all dances. Hopefully this book can help them become better dancers,  teachers, trainers, and choreographers. 
     We at the Heritage Dance Center believe that every dancer can be creative if given the proper tools to work with. This whole book provides those tools for every dancer to use. The dancer is encouraged to create his own step sequences using the basic step patterns of the dance, and substitute appropriate rhythms or syncopate when applicable. You will be amazed at how many different original sequences you can create from the patterns provided.