Quickstep - Tune Up Your Technique

Step 1: Positioning of the head

Just because your feet are doing most of the work this doesn't mean that you can neglect the rest of your body. Even how you hold your head is important.

The leader - to be a strong leader - needs to be the eyes for both people. You should look over the follower's right shoulder and have your eyeline slightly higher than normal.

The correct head position for the follower is to look over the leader's right shoulder, with your chin rotated to the left and tilted slightly upwards.

Step 2: Positioning of the hands and arms

The leader's right hand is essentially the steering wheel. It should rest lightly on the follower's left shoulder blade. The hand shouldn't wander to here, here and definitely not here.

Although as a leader you need to guide your partner, you shouldn't hold her so tightly that she has difficulty breathing!

However, the quickstep is a dance which requires close contact so don't be prudish and do the opposite, by standing half a metre away from each other!

The leader's left arm and follower's right are held up, just for show. The leader should not use this arm to lead as his partner's shoulder wouldn't last too long.

To avoid those ugly 'spaghetti arms' maintain your hands a little higher than the lady's shoulder and keep your elbows up.

Finally the follower's left hand rests lightly on her partner's right shoulder and left elbow on top of his. However, this doesn't mean you can relax and lean lazily on him as if propping up a bar, make sure you support your own weight.

Step 3: Your posture

However much of a novice dancer you are, you should at least try and look like you know what you're doing- and one way to achieve this is by working on your posture.

Don't just stand as if you look like you're returning home from a drunken night out.

Aim to keep your arms up but shoulders down, tummy pulled in, pelvis tipped slightly forwards and chest open, without forgetting to breathe!

Step 4: Footwork and timing

For the basic footwork of the quickstep remember the following things:

You always step forwards onto your heel, side onto the toe and you lower down to move backwards.

Then for the timing - when you move forwards it's a slow pace, to the side quick and quick again and backwards once again slow.

Step 5: The leader's directions

The directions are always set by the leader.

Every dance-floor has four walls - whether it's round, square or oblong - remembering that the line of dance is always anti-clockwise.

You start facing diagonally to a wall - not to a corner or to the centre of the dance- floor.

If you don't follow these rules you'll get completely lost.