Books

SURVIVAL DANCE GUIDE for LIFE’S BIG CELEBRATIONS

Survival Dance Guide is a high-quality premium marketing-promotion item (slim book) created for the hospitality/big functions industry involved with: milestone celebrations, fundraising galas, corporate functions, conventions, cruises, events, more.

It is written with humor by best-selling dance author Karen Lustgarten to cure dance floor phobia and “two left feet” syndrome at any age.

This stylish book gets everyone up dancing for most of the evening. Four popular dances that repeat often are broken down to their easiest versions (with photos, foot charts, text, tips). Now all guests can join the fun with confidence--dancing like stars rather than sitting on the sidelines alone. Events are more memorable when everyone is dancing the night away!

CUSTOMIZING OPTIONS

1. Place your company logo or imprint on the front cover (company sticker)
2. 1st page of book: a “Compliments of” full page for your company
3. Back page: a full page for company use (ad, coupons, etc.)
4. Dance models: can change age and/or ethnicity of models in book
5. Front cover: change title (3rd line); change attire of models

Survival Dance Guide is available as a premium in quantity orders only. Contact: info@mediakl.com

Before Lustgarten Communications there was a celebrated life in the fields of fitness and disco dance innovation. Starting from scratch, Karen codified disco as a legitimate dance form that could be taught to anyone at any level of ability. She created the Lustgarten Technique for teaching both dance and exercise to thousands of adults in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the country on TV.

Karen Lustgarten wrote, produced and modeled for three books. Additionally, she worked with the publisher on an innovative multi-media marketing concept for each book in conjunction with her national book tours.

The Complete Guide to Disco Dancing (Warner Books)

This first book was a runaway best seller that landed on the New York Times Best Seller List (13 weeks) within six weeks of publication and was translated into French, German, Chinese.

Predicting a major trend in disco, the instruction book that codified disco dancing as a legitimate dance form is based on the Lustgarten teaching technique. It includes original photos, foot charts and music recommendations for practice. Several dances in the book are originals choreographed by the author.

The U.S. Postal Service issued the Disco Music Stamp in November 1999 as part of the "Celebrate the Century” series of stamps. For the image on the stamp, they selected Karen’s book cover photo of her dancing and requested that she write the stamp’s description. At the unveiling of the U.S. postage stamp in New York, Karen autographed first day issues of it for collectors and was surprised with a framed blow-up of her stamp.

The encyclopedic Social Dancing in America featured the disco and touch dance books by Karen Lustgarten. (2007, Vol. 2, pp 231- 40).

The Complete Guide to Touch Dancing (Warner Books)

Easy step-by-step instruction of club ballroom dances. Includes photos, original foot charts, music recommendations.

The Complete Guide to a Dynamic Body (Fawcett Books)

The Lustgarten Technique of fitness instruction developed for beginner, intermediate and advanced levels of ability. Photos, detailed instruction for best results and a few one-hour formats to practice at home are included. Karen researched, tested and taught this original body conditioning technique for eight years.

The manuscript for this book provided “The Dynamic Body” weekly fitness columns that appeared for five years in the San Francisco Chronicle then syndicated nationwide.

Note: The Complete Guide series of books are out of print but can be found on the Internet.
Karen Lustgarten owns the copyrights.

The Lustgarten Technique

Predicting a national explosion in fitness and disco dance, Karen Lustgarten was instrumental in pioneering these two trends in San Francisco. Drawing on 12 years of dance classes, she developed and taught The Lustgarten Technique, an original method of successfully teaching fitness and dance to all levels of ability. Each of the two teaching techniques guaranteed students a painless, entertaining class while mastering the skills

For eight years, this successful teaching venture led to multi-media enterprises: books, TV, syndicated newspaper columns. They formed the foundation for Lustgarten Communications--turning other people and their ventures into stars through creative, comprehensive multi-media PR/communications services.

The Lustgarten Technique to a Dynamic Body was developed as an expressive fitness system organized into six formats. It is an original, well-researched and tested series of different exercises to condition all muscles safely, effectively, comprehensively and enjoyably in one hour and without the use of equipment. The technique emphasizes good posture and the right and wrong way to perform an exercise for maximum benefit without injury.

Each fitness format in the teaching technique was devised for beginner and intermediate-advanced levels of ability. The series of exercises in a format are arranged in a well-researched, logical progression to work muscles properly. Specific music was selected to match the feel and timing of every exercise.

Each hour-long format combines the art of body conditioning: balance, coordination, control, grace and refinement, with the science of toning: strength, stamina and flexibility—all to create a harmonious and conditioned body. The formats were designed to be exhilarating programs incorporating the best of dance, aerobics, yoga with humor.

The goal of the Lustgarten Technique: turn students on to the pure joy of dance and of being fit. It worked. Later, Karen wrote teaching manuals for fitness and disco dance and trained teaching assistants in her technique.

Following closely on the heels of success as a teacher, she became a:

best selling author
syndicated fitness columnist
entertainer-teacher at private parties and major events
weekly TV fitness personality
TV talk show fitness expert
TV pilot for her own fitness/dance show