[I asked Senior Production Editor Martha Kranes to blog today.]

As often happens at my job as a production editor at Lerner Publications, life intersects with work. Last January I decided to take salsa lessons to help spice up the long Minnesota winter. At the same time, I started working on Latin Dance in the On the Radar series.

My newly acquired dance experience was helpful in verifying that the basic salsa dance steps outlined in the book (below) were in fact what a beginner salsa dancer would learn.

The book includes brief overviews of Latin dance culture, music, dress, and a few big names on the Latin dance scene .

Along with salsa basics, other spreads in the book are dedicated to basic tango and rhumba steps. Armed with only my beginner knowledge of salsa, I did not feel equipped to comment on either of these dance how-tos. So my boss and I turned to YouTube, and ultimately to each other, to see if the dance steps outlined in the book matched what we saw on the videos!