As a non-afficionado and given the speed, I struggle to distinguish between a "good" quickstep and one that the judges describe as "skippy" - any tips from the experts??

The best Quicksteps for me are those that have a 50/50 split of running groups and swing groups.

In the interests of helping out layman thickos (like myself...)

What??

I'm not at all sure I have the faintest idea what you mean (and I too am interested to learn...)

YouTube Mirko and Alessia and you'll see an awesome Quickstep! Perfectly balanced.

On the contrary, William and Alessandra always had very 'skippy' running Quicksteps and I remember them winning the British in that one dance back in 2005 I think it was . . . at the end of the day it's all personal preference.

I just like an even balance because for me it is the most characterised, the most 'typical' Quickstep.

And I'm not a Standard dancer myself by the way, just Latin!

Thanks Becca, I'll go and do some youtubing.

I hate being ill but I seem to be learning a lot about ballroom LOL!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJsSxtYIZGY

Would 0:32 ish to 0:50 ish be what you would term a swing group and the next bit a running group??

You're bang on there!

Wanna see my favourite Quickstep show ever?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kib3TdFpY_I

Saw it live last month and it was AWESOME.

Wahey! Learned something today!! *grin*

(Mack The Knife - what a great tune to dance to!)


Oooh another one to watch! Ta

If there is toooo much bounce, it is skippy - the quick step is fast, but smooth - imagine them dancing it holding a tray of drinks - if you would get a near empty glass, it was skippy.

its the placing of the foot which makes the dance skippy if the foot isnt lowered and done on ball of foot can appear to be tippy toed and skippy (ie Kelly in that VW she was very rarely lowering the foot and did it on tip toe nearly all the way through

^^^Very helpful way of describing it!

A skippy quickstep is where you dance with a kangaroo

(One for all the over 30s out there )

tee hee skippy skippy skippy the bush kangeroo

I agree with this. It's usually uneven, rushed chassés which make the quickstep look skippy.

(Sadly I'm old enough to remember Skippy skipp,y skippy the bush kangaroo, but what hero he was!)

Thanks for the helpful (and daft) replies!