According to some sources the roots of this dance are in New York's Harlem area, others put the origin of the dance with the Negroes of the southeast United States where it resembled the dances of the Seminole Indians. Depending on which source you are looking at either the Negroes copied it from the Indians or the Indians copied it from the Negroes. This dance is usually best performed to instrumental music. A couple of songs most commonly used for the quickstep are "Big Band", "Flash", and "Spoonful of Sugar". These songs have a cheery and upbeat tempo and have a 1940's dance club appeal. The foxtrot is one of the most popular ballroom dances, although it is also one of the most difficult to learn. While personal instruction is best, it isn't your only option. Recently, ballroom dance has been brought into the spotlight thanks to media coverage. Ballroom dancing has grown by leaps and bounds in the past decade, and more and more people are catching on to the dance craze. This is important and certainly works in your favor because you can find several instructional DVD's and videos on ballroom dancing. It is a very brisk, energetic dance that was developed with very fast paced jazz music from the ragtime era. The Quick Step is a fast, happy, lighthearted dance, the footwork can be a little complex using a slow, quick, quick, slow, quick, quick tempo. Like other dances the slow steps on the heel, Quick Steps on the toes. This would also explain the counter clockwise movement around the dance floor as the man would've stood on the inside of the circle so he wouldn't inadvertently hit any of the people watching the dancers with his sword as he danced past. In Latin American ballroom the postures vary from dance to dance with some using the closed hold and others where the partners hold each other with only one hand. The Sharks and the Jets danced their way through West Side Story, Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze put Dirty Dancing on the map. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers awed the world with the beauty and grace of their dancing. There was even a joke at one time that Ginger Rogers should have gotten top billing since she did everything Fred Astaire did and she did it backwards in high heels!