Louis Van Amstel Preps Us For The Jive And The Quickstep On Dancing With The Stars

Louis Van Amstel blogs at ABC about week 2 of Dancing With The Stars. He gives us a run down for the Jive and the Quickstep and their rules. He’s excited for he and Sabrina’s Quickstep this week too and thinks this might be a great dance for her versus the Latin dances…

This week it will be interesting to see how the celebs handle a different dance of the opposite style. Couples that danced the Cha Cha last week will do the Quickstep and couples that danced the Foxtrot will do the Jive this week. Now you can judge how well-rounded the couples are when it comes to faster dances versus slower dances. This week both the Jive and Quickstep are the fastest dances of the ballroom or Latin dances.

The Jive doesn’t really have rules except for the “No Lift” policy. The Quickstep is much stricter. Besides the “No Lift” policy, couples only have 10 seconds in the beginning and at the end to play around and have side-by-side choreography. The remainder has to be in closed hold, which means in a 1 minute and 5 second routine, 45 seconds have to be in closed hold. Some pros take liberties and break those rules, others don’t. The closed hold in a regular ballroom competition is very clear. You have to be in the same frame and always be in contact, but on the “DWTS” floor the closed hold could be up for interpretation.

(I’ve wonder if you guys at home ever understood this rule with the Quickstep. I remember in past seasons when I wrote this blog I timed some of the Quickstep openings being over 20 seconds. Many times this happens because it’s easier not to be in closed hold. It’s also harder to be expressive when you’re in one position for most of the song. Yes, I’ll say it – it can be boring – but a rule is a rule.)

I’m so excited about our Quickstep this week. At first glance I thought Sabrina would be way better at the Latin dances because she’s such a firecracker with such a bubbly personality, but I was so wrong. I’ll let you decided for yourself what you think about our Quickstep.

Great blog. Be sure you read more at ABC because Louis writes about the order of the dances he watched last night as well.