"While I recognize that Standard dances can be difficult to learn, I think a lot depends on your talent. Some people will NEVER make latin dances look good, no matter how hard they try. They only think they do but when I go to social dances, I see more bad Latin than smooth/standard dancing."

Two reasons for that:

1) The people who are that bad at standard don't dance it at socials. Especially something like quickstep, nobody is going to do it unless they are halfway confident or determined about it.

2) You know more about latin, so you can see the faults more readily.

Interestimg comment-- " feet turned in "-- you need to realise -- thats the way that Latinos dance - the turned out foot, is a developement of Intern style latin and the trained b/room dancer ( their music, their dance -- wonder who is really correct ?-- p/s/ and I,m a dance coach )

When I spoke about feet being turned in, I was referring to Int'l Latin and not club salsa or any other strictly social form of dance where connection with your partner, showmanship and the joy of dancing really take precedence over "strict" technique.

Regarding Anymouse's comment about knowing more about Latin, that is only partly true... I think most people figure Latin is easy and they will just go out there and "shake it" after having learned only 3 steps (nothing wrong with that, btw). I can see the faults in Standard dances quite easily, most particularly that sort of affected stiffness that people seem to think is required in the Standard dances. I have seen some of the best dancers in the world up close and there was nothing stiff about their dancing...

are u Greek?

For myself, it is harder to dance quickstep with a man I usually don't dance with due to the speed. 95% of men do not lead well enough....meaning they do not lead through one side of the body or the other; totally having their weight on one foot or the other....not having weight between feet. If a man starts dancing only basics with a woman, no complicated steps or syncopation, in good body contact so she can read what your lead is, using sufficient sway and slice to allow the woman to place her side and then foot in time then she will hear that you are a good quickstep dancer and will want to dance quickstep with you. As you dance with her, slowly add one more complicated step during a single song at a time. Keep remembering that this is a faster dance taking more processing time.

In my choices of dances fox trot and rumba are first, rumba, bolero, tango, hustle and waltz would be second and then cha cha and quickstep. I hardly ever do mergengue, mambo, salsa, west coast swing or regular swing, v. waltz, argentine tango.... prefer to rest during those dances for the top 3 groups....if you don't then I am too tired and don't dance well for those....

Everyone is different!

Personally, I LOVE quickstep music, and while the dance isn't my favorite, it's a lot of fun.

If you are asking women from the same studio, perhaps they simply haven't learned enough of it to be comfortable. There's also the possibility that (and I don't mean to be insulting here) you (and possibly the other leaders they dance with) are just not leading it right.

Like I said - I think quickstep is a lot of fun. However, it's also the easiest dance for a girl to fall behind the guy in frame and basically get "clotheslined" by your right arm/shoulder. Combined with the "ohmygodQuickstepGOFAST" pace that most people (myself included) end up traveling at, that's no fun for girls.

In fact, its kind of like running backwards in a back-bend position, with a shoulder at your throat and your butt sticking out, while locking your legs every few steps. In heels.

So as a lot of people have said, technique is ABSOLUTELY necessary to enjoying the dance.

Perhaps you can talk to the manager of your studio about a quickstep mastery class, so everyone can become more comfortable with the dance?

I like the dance but I find the music pretty crummy. Apart from the scissor sisters I haven't heard much modern music to use for it. Any suggestions anyone?

Some of the swing groups like Voodoo Daddy, have some excellent quicksteps. There is a lot of good quickstep music from the 40's to today.

Firstly, my partner and I LOVE quickstep, but because we've worked at it and gotten over the problems we had with it early on.

At first it was daunting because the music was so fast, but instead of giving up we kept on, and now we can get around and actually enjoy it. Favorite music: Shout and Feel It, Happy Feet, and of course the classic Sing, Sing, Sing.

There are a lot of people in our studio who say they want to learn such-and-such dance, so the instructor will have a month-long group class on that dance. During our parties, he'll play music for that dance, and everyone will try it and say "that's too hard/fast/whatever" and never try it again... It's so frustrating to see people give up that quickly. If we had given up when something was hard we wouldn't have made it very long at all, and would never have gotten to the "enjoyable" part of dancing.

Their loss...

Anybody who finds the Quickstep too physicaly demanding I would suggest that a lot of energy may be wasted by not letting the drive on the slow take you onto the quicks. The Lockstep is the same. If you are working with the same intensity on all your steps you will never last the distance. You might even call it light and shade or in this case shade and light.