 One of Laird's greatest achievements was his "Technique of Latin dancing", first published in 1961; further editions in 1964, 1972, 1977, 1983, 1988, 2003.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.