Quickstep
Encyclopedia
The quickstep is a light-hearted member of the standard ballroom dance
Ballroom dance
Ballroom dance refers to a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television....

s. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopation
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...

s. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal and informal events. Quickstep was developed in the twenties in New York and was first danced by Caribbean and African dancers.
Its origins are in combination of slow foxtrot combined with the Charleston, a dance which was one of the precursors to what today is called swing dancing.

History

The Quickstep evolved in the 1920s from a combination of the Foxtrot, The Chase G Chug, Charleston
Charleston (dance)
The Charleston is a dance named for the harbor city of Charleston, South Carolina. The rhythm was popularized in mainstream dance music in the United States by a 1923 tune called "The Charleston" by composer/pianist James P. Johnson which originated in the Broadway show Runnin' Wild and became one...

, Shag, Peabody
Peabody (dance)
Peabody was a foxtrot type ballroom dance in the United States of the beginning of the 20th century. It was essentially a fast One-Step danced under lively ragtime music....

, and One-Step
One-Step
The One-Step was a ballroom dance popular in social dancing at the beginning of the 20th century.Troy Kinney writes that One-Step originated from the Turkey Trot dance, with all mannerisms of the latter removed, so that "of the original 'trot' nothing remains but the basic step".The One-Step...

. The dance is English in origin, and was standardized in 1927. While it evolved from the Foxtrot, the Quickstep now is quite separate. Unlike the modern Foxtrot, the man often closes his feet and syncopated steps are regular occurrences (as was the case in early Foxtrot). Three characteristic dance figures of the Quickstep are the chassé
Chasse
Chasse or chassé rarely chassée is a dance step used in many dances in many variants, all of them being triple-step patterns of gliding character, steps going basically step-together-step. The word came from ballet terminology...

s, where the feet are brought together, the quarter turns, and the lock step
Lock Step (dance move)
Lock Step refers to any of dance steps which involves the "locking" of the moving foot: the moving foot approaches to the standing foot, crosses in front of or behind it in the direction of the approach, stops close to the standing foot, and the weight is fully transferred to the moving foot.The...

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This dance gradually evolved into a very dynamic one with a lot of movement on the dance floor, with many advanced patterns including hops, runs, quick steps with a lot of momentum, and rotation. The tempo of Quickstep dance is rather brisk as it was developed to ragtime era jazz music which is fast-paced when compared to other dance music.

By the end of the 20th century the complexity of Quickstep as done by advanced dancers had increased, due to the extensive use of syncopated steps with eighth note
Eighth note
thumb|180px|right|Figure 1. An eighth note with stem facing up, an eighth note with stem facing down, and an eighth rest.thumb|right|180px|Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together....

 durations. While in older times quickstep patterns were counted with "quick" (one beat) and "slow" (two beats) steps, many advanced patterns today are cued with split beats, such as "quick-and-quick-and-quick, quick, slow", with there being further steps on the 'and's.

Patterns

The two International Style syllabi of ISTD and IDTA for Quickstep differ very little.

The American Style dance competition program does not include Quickstep, but a limited version of the dance is taught and danced socially
Social dance
Social dance is a major category or classification of danceforms or dance styles, where sociability and socializing are the primary focuses of the dancing...

 in some American dance venues.

See also: V6
V6 (Quickstep)
V6 is a Silver level dance pattern of the Quickstep dance syllabus. The couple moves diagonally to the center and then diagonally to the wall , thus sweeping a V-shape on the floor....

.

Style

The Quickstep is elegant like the Foxtrot, and should be smooth and glamorous. The dancers should appear to be very light on their feet. It is very energetic and form-intensive.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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