Walter William Laird (July 26, 1920 - May 30, 2002) - had a great influence on the development of Latin American dances in Britain after World War II. He three times held the title of world champion among professionals. Walter has been the coach of many successful dancers. Among them: Alan Thornsberg, Wiebeck Toft, Espen Salberg, Jukka Haapalainen, Sirpa Suutari and Donnie Burns , Peter Maxwell and Lynn Harman. These dancers were his first leading pair of champions, as well as those on whom Walter developed his unique Latin American Dance Technique. Laird was a member and examiner of the International Dance Teachers Association. Until 2000, he was secretary (and later president) of the Ballroom Dance Federation.
| Walter Laird | |
|---|---|
| personal information | |
| Floor | male |
| Full name | Walter william laird |
| A country |  United Kingdom |
| Date of Birth | July 26, 1920 |
| Place of Birth | Layton , England |
| Date of death | May 30, 2002 (81 years old) |
| A place of death | |
Career start
Laird began dancing with his sister Jeanne in the 1930s. His professional partner [ clarify ] during and after the war was Ande Lyons (nee Ashcroft, and later [ clarify ] Ande Tyrer). They met when Ande went to the Royal Aircraft Academy in Farnborough as a shorthand typist. One day she interviewed Walter, who was a scientist working there. At the end of the interview, he asked Anda if she was fond of dancing.
“Like most girls, I knew how to dance Jitter Bug (later called a jive), and I had a great time! My answer to his question was that I love dancing and that I am even very good at it! We set a date for the meeting and, to my horror, it turned out that Walter was a professional ballroom dancer. Soon I realized that I was good, but obviously not in this business! However, Walter offered to teach me how to dance properly, as he believed that I had potential. And so my second career was born! ”
Laird’s partnership with Lyons was completely “traditional” in the concept of ballroom dancing of those times (now it’s called biathlon or 10 dance competition). Laird did not immediately switch to Latin, only some time after the war. Three World Championships (1962-1964) Laird danced in partnership with Lorraine Reynolds (now Rodin), known as Lorraine. Walter later married Julia, who runs a dance school in South London. One of Walter Laird’s greatest accomplishments was his Latin American Dance Technique, first published in 1961; further reprints were in 1964, 1972, 1977, 1983, 1988 and 2003. Initially, Walter used the traditional format for describing figures, but in the 1972 edition he published the results of a large-scale analysis of Latin dances and began to use tables with characteristics of figures in order to facilitate their understanding. This book has had a great influence on the dance world, and has since become one of the foundations accepted by many dance teachers and organizations as the final and correct version.