Quickstep
The quickstep is English in origin. It developed in the 1920s from a blend of foxtrot, Charleston, shag, peabody and one-step, and was standardised in 1927. It is the quick branch of the foxtrot's split; the Great Conference held in London in 1929 fixed official tempos for the ballroom dances, leaving a clear gap between foxtrot and quickstep.
It is danced to 4/4 music at roughly 48 to 52 bars a minute, in a fast and powerfully flowing style with syncopations. Typical figures are chassés, quarter turns and lock steps. Quickstep belongs to the ISTD and IDTA syllabi and to International Style competitions, while the American Style programme does not include it.
Sources
- Quickstep (Wikipedia)
- The Schism over dance tempos (Richard Powers)
- History of Modern Ballroom (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing)
Organisations connected with this dance
- Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD), Modern Ballroom faculty
- International Dance Teachers Association (IDTA)
- World DanceSport Federation (WDSF)
Listed as references; being listed is not an endorsement by or of the organisation.