Spotlight BallroomMidtown Stomp

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SMOOTH AND STANDARD · SPOTLIGHT BALLROOM

Quickstep Lessons in Sacramento

Fast, light and energetic, with chassés and quarter turns

Quickstep classes in West Sacramento: Int/Adv Quickstep, Saturday, November 7 at 6:15 pm. Levels on the schedule: intermediate, advanced. Private Quickstep lessons with an instructor are available too.

  • 4/4 time
  • 200–208 beats a minute
  • travels around the room
See upcoming Quickstep classesFeel the count
Couple in a smooth ballroom hold at Spotlight Ballroom, the woman in a turquoise gown with arms extended.
Quickstep travels: dancers run and chassé down the floor while staying connected.[7]

About Quickstep

Dance Vision counts quickstep among the five International Ballroom dances, always danced in closed hold, and describes it as a crowd favorite with a jive-like energy that bursts onto the floor.[7][8]

Leaps, runs, jumps, kicks and glides cover a lot of floor while the couple stays connected, weaving past the other couples. Next to the sway of waltz, the flat lines of tango and the rise and fall of foxtrot, it is the liveliest and fastest-moving of the five.[7][8]

How Dance Vision describes Quickstep, summarised in our own words. Dance Vision’s own articles: The 19 Different Types of Ballroom Dance · What is International Ballroom Dance Style?

Feel the count

Quickstep is counted in quicks and slows: a quick takes one count and a slow takes two. Many advanced patterns are now cued in split beats.[2]

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4

Time signature 4/4. WDSF competition tempo (2018 rules): 50–52 bars a minute (about 200–208 beats a minute)[4]. The slider runs from a slow practice speed (60% of the low end of that range, a way to learn a new pattern, not a rule) up to the fastest. The click sounds only after you press play.

  • NDCA lists 50 bars a minute (200 beats) for International quickstep.[1]
  • The ISTD recommends 48–50 bars a minute for examinations; its table prints no unit.[5]

Upcoming Quickstep classes

From the studio schedule, in Pacific time. Confirm a class with the studio before you come.

Open these in the calendar

Also covered in

General classes that include Quickstep among their dances. Each week can cover a different dance, so ask the studio which week is Quickstep.

Songs to practice to

  • Let’s Face the Music and Dance Nat King Cole[6]
  • It’s De-Lovely Rosemary Clooney[6]
  • 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover Paul Simon[6]
  • I Wanna Be Like You Geoff Love & Mike Sammes Singers[6]

Titles only, taken from dance-music lists that teachers and DJs have matched to this dance. Use the slider above to hear the tempo first.

Where it comes from

Quickstep evolved in England in the 1920s from a mix of foxtrot, Charleston, shag, peabody and one-step, and was standardized in 1927.[2]

It grew out of the foxtrot’s split into a slow and a quick version, and Britannica lists the one-step and the peabody as fast fox-trot forms. It developed to fast ragtime-era jazz music.[9][10]

Where it appears: International Standard[1][2]

Where people dance it

It is a Standard competition dance under the ISTD and IDTA syllabi. It is not part of American Style competition, although a limited version is taught and danced socially in some American venues.[2]

The upbeat music suits formal and informal events, and the dance appears on Dancing with the Stars and Strictly Come Dancing.[2]

International and American versions

Quickstep belongs to International Standard only: American Smooth has four dances (waltz, tango, foxtrot and Viennese waltz).[3]

Sources for this page (12)
  1. NDCA Rules & Regulations, January 2025 edition, section IX 'Dances and Tempi', B. Approved Tempi (International Style Ballroom and American Style Smooth) Read 2026-09-23.
  2. Quickstep - Wikipedia (background only) Read 2026-09-23.
  3. From Cha Cha to Waltz: Breaking Down Competitive Ballroom Dance Styles - Dance Spirit Read 2026-09-23.
  4. WDSF Competition Rules (status: June 17, 2018 WDSF AGM, updated 01.09.2018), Rule E.3.2 tempi table and Rule M.1 Smooth Dance table Read 2026-09-23.
  5. ISTD Syllabus Outline of Modern Ballroom, Dance Faculty Qualifications, September 2024 ('Dances and Tempi' page) Read 2026-09-23.
  6. Quickstep - The music of Dancesport (George Pytlik, DanceSportMusic archive) Read 2026-09-23.
  7. The 19 Different Types of Ballroom Dance - Dance Vision (DVIDA syllabus publisher) Read 2026-09-23.
  8. What is International Ballroom Dance Style? Read 2026-09-23.
  9. Foxtrot - Wikipedia (background only) Read 2026-09-23.
  10. Fox-trot | Ballroom, Social & Smooth | Britannica Read 2026-09-23.
  11. DVIDA Directory | Dance Vision Read 2026-09-23.
  12. Dance Vision home page Read 2026-09-23.

Everything on this page is paraphrased from these sources, each read on September 23, 2026; nothing is copied.