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Quickstep

by Warren & Sandy Teague

Quickstep is usually danced at 48 to 50 measures per minute. Sometimes dancers are reluctant to accept quickstep because of the speed of the dance. But there are some ways to make quickstep more danceable and hopefully less taxing on the partnership.

Quickstep should have flight and should be danced with a very light airy feeling. It is danced very "up" with lots of ankle movement. Once we initiate body flight we try to maintain a forward poise by keeping our steps compact and very centered. This gives the illusion of gliding across the room and barely touching the floor.

It is critical to maintain proper dance position and frame so we can continue to dance comfortably and execute the figures properly. We find this to be one of the most important points to work on in the quickstep. If we are unable to maintain our dance position, we begin to feel heavy -- the dance loses its character and becomes work instead of fun. Another useful point we have learned is for the woman to dance into the man's right hand. Also, the "tray" lead for the man: that is, the man places the lady, as if she were a tray, from side to side ahead of his steps or body. This action opens the door for the lady making room for passing feet. A third important point is the lowering action -- this allows time for the partners to move past each other comfortably.

Again, we stress the importance of small steps very centered over the feet and staying very "up" and light while maintaining a good dance frame.


From clinic notes prepared for the URDC Convention, 1994, and reprinted in the Dixie Round Dance Council (DRDC) Newsletter, November 2013.



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