Quickstep is an International Style ballroom dance that follows a 4/4 time beat, at about 50 bars per minute. An example of a song suitable for the classic quickstep would be Louis Prima’s Sing, Sing, Sing. From its early beginning as a faster Foxtrot, the Quickstep has become quite distinctive. It is danced to the fastest tempo of the ballroom dances.
The Quickstep evolved in the 1920s from a combination of the Foxtrot, Charleston, Shag, Peabody, and 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 chassés, where the feet are brought together, the quarter turns, and the lock step.
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.

When you are learning a new dance, getting some good music to practice to, or just to enjoy, can be very difficult. The music is taking over and you want more of it in your life, but don’t know where to start.

To make the process a little easier, we’ve rounded up a selection of our favourite pieces by genre, and provided links to iTunes where available. If you have a particular track that you think should be featured here, let us know. Remember, musicians have to earn a living too. If you like it, please buy it.

Artist	Title	Level	Buy
Benny Goodman	Sing Sing Sing	Beginner
Copacabana Cast	Dancin’ Fool	Beginner
Rod Stewart	I Get a Kick Out of You	Beginner
Doris Day	Everybody Loves a Lover	Beginner

Quickstep Demonstration