What is the Quickstep?
Q: What is the Quickstep?
A: The Quickstep is an International Style ballroom dance that follows a 4/4 time beat, at about 50 bars per minute. It developed in the 1920s from a combination of the Foxtrot, the Charleston, and other dances.
Q: How is it different from the Foxtrot?
A: The Quickstep has become quite different from its early beginning as a faster Foxtrot. Unlike the modern Foxtrot, the feet often close and syncopated (split-beat) steps occur often.
Q: What are some characteristic dance figures of the Quickstep?
A: Three characteristic dance figures of the Quickstep are chassés (where feet come together), quarter turns, and lock step.
Q: What type of music does it go with?
A: The Quickstep was developed to ragtime era jazz music which was fast-paced compared to other dance music. Today it goes with more syncopated steps than older times quickstep patterns were counted with "quick" (one beat) and "slow" (two beats).
Q: What kind of movement occurs on the dance floor when doing this style?
A: This dance became a very dynamic one with a lot of movement on the dance floor including hops, runs, quick steps with momentum, and rotation.
Q: When did this style originate?
A: The Quickstep originated in England in 1927 and was standardized that same year.
