Walter Laird

Walter William Laird (26 July 1920 – 30 May 2002) was a major influence in the development of Latin American dancing in Britain after the Second World War.

He coached many successful dancers including Allan Tornsberg, Vibeke Toft, Espen Salberg, Jukka Haapalainen, Sirpa Suutari, Donnie Burns & Ian Waite.

Peter Maxwell & Lynn Harman were amongst his first major champions and a couple on which much of his ultimate technique was developed.

Initially Laird followed the traditional descriptive format, but in 1972 edition he published the results of a major analysis of Latin dance, and used a tabular form, including a column for 'action used' to help definition.

This edition was widely influential, and has since been accepted by many dance teacher organisations as a definitive work.