Quickstep

[Helen_W]

I am new to these forums :D

I am dancing quickstep as one of the dances of my UKA gold ballroom exam, but I really feel like my quickstep is lacking any 'depth?' At the moment it just seems like a routine. What is a quickstep about?

[Laura]

I sometimes have wondered that myself. Then recently, as we were practicing our syllabus (gold medal level) routine, it suddenly came to me. Quickstep is mostly danced to fast big band music. There's the regular drum, and then there's the back beat often expressed on the snare drum, and the there's the brass section (often trumpets, but if you're dealing with Benny Goodman clarinets are used more often). I found as we were dancing, my feet and the rise and fall of the quickstep were expressing that swingy big band beat, and in some pieces of music my feet are going right along with the trumpets. It's really hard for me to describe...but it's like I could start to associate what my feet were doing and when I changed shapes to the characteristics of the big band sound.

It's like dancing quickstep is tapping your feet times 100, to big band music -- you do it with your whole body rather than just tapping your toes.

[LXC]

Can you explain what you mean by 'depth'? Maybe it's my language problem but depth sounds serious and deep and sophisticated to me while quickstep is bubbly and light.

Laura, I run out of breath just to stay on time letting alone recognizing the different instruments playing. But I guess that's the first step in musical interpretation?

[mamboqueen]

Not equipped to answer this, but just wanted to say "howdi" and welcome to the forums!

[Laura]

Can you explain what you mean by 'depth'? Maybe it's my language problem but depth sounds serious and deep and sophisticated to me while quickstep is bubbly and light.

I think quickstep has a bit of depth, in that you have to really use your knees and ankles to produce that bubbly lightness. You just aren't "up" all the time, there are lowering actions that really absorb and collect so that you can then push off into the realm of fluffiness again.

Laura, I run out of breath just to stay on time letting alone recognizing the different instruments playing. But I guess that's the first step in musical interpretation?

It might sound weird, but my partner and I have discovered that you can work way too hard in quickstep and just end up feeling rushed and tired and out of breath. Quickstep can actually be very relaxing. We have to remind ourselves to relax and not push to be on the beat, but rather relax and always let our centers swing through to keep us moving and on time.

[Helen_W]

Not equipped to answer this, but just wanted to say "howdi" and welcome to the forums!

Hi, thanks :D

What I mean is, for example, rumba is the dance of love, but what is quickstep?

[Kitty]

to me it is a dance of moving. I love to move...

oh, important not to forget: it is about moving calmly and with control. Decelerating and accelerating again.

[LXC]

I thought 'depth' wasn't to be taken literally in the original quesiton?

Yes, I understand the working too hard feeling especially with new routines. I feel that a lot of energy is lost when we're not in sync. It's like energy wasted within the partnership if you know what I mean.

[Laura]

What I mean is, for example, rumba is the dance of love, but what is quickstep?

Please don't take this as criticism of you, because I don't mean it this way, but sometimes I rather dislike reducing the dances to one-word concepts. That said, the simplifications do have the benefit of giving people a place to start. If I had to pick an emotion word for Quickstep, I'd pick "exhuberance."

[Chris Stratton]

Quickstep is up tempo, but not hectic

[dancin_feet]

To me, quickstep is about dancing at full velocity. It's light, it's fun and it's energetic.

Quickstep is one dance that has always alluded me. I can never get the basic timing right. :shock:

Oh well one day ........ :wink:

[Laura]

I recently discovered that if my partner and I push too hard and try to go FAST in Quickstep, we end up kind of discombobluated and off time because we get ahead of the beat, which we then have to make up at the end of the phrase to get back on beat (like via a hover or a hesitation). So then we tried to go slower, to really let the knees and ankles feel and absorb each slow, and to just push off to make the rising actions in the quicks very light and springy. As we got more comfortable with this, we felt like we were dancig Quickstep more and more slowly -- but we now we are on time and really covering ground, so we must be doing something right. So for us, it's not about trying to go at maximum velocity any more.