History
The Quickstep evolved in the 1920s from a combination of the Foxtrot, Charleston, Shag, Peabody, and One Step. This dance is English in origin and was standardized in 1927. The Quickstep now is quite separate from the Foxtrot. Unlike the modern Foxtrot, the man often closes his feet, and syncopated steps are regular occurrences as was the case in early Foxtrot. In some ways, the dance patterns are close to the Waltz, but are danced to 4/4 time rather than 3/4 time.
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 very fast paced compared to other dance music.
By the end of the 20th century the speed of Quickstep as done by advanced dancers has increased even more, due to the extensive use of steps with eighth note 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".
Note that there was a 19th century Quickstep, which was a march-like dance and has no relation to the modern ballroom step.
Patterns
Quite in contrast to the Foxtrot or the Waltz, the Quickstep often has patterns or sequences that have a duration of multiples of measures as well as containing patterns with an extra half measure, creating a shift of the emphasis from beat ONE to beat THREE and vice versa.
The two International Style syllabi of ISTD and IDTA for Quickstep slightly differ. The American Style dance competition program does not include Quickstep, but the dance is still taught and danced socially in American dance venues.
Style
The Quickstep is elegant like the Foxtrot, and should be smooth and glamourous. The dancers should appear to be very light on their feet. It is very energetic and form-intensive.
