I am trying to learn quickstep and I was curious if anyone could explain why the man starts with his right foot? Is this common in International style dances? I am used to doing the American style dances and the man usually starts with the left foot. Thanks

The man doesn't necessarily start the dance with his right foot. He can start with whatever foot he chooses to, and in any direction. This is true of all dances.

Many (but not all) Quickstep patterns, however, begin with the man's right foot. That's just the nature of the dance, and how the patterns fit together. The American style syllabus, in contrast, has most (but not all) patterns beginning with the man's left foot. But just because a majority of patterns begin on a particular foot does not mean you need to start the dance on that foot. You can choose to start with one of the minority patterns, or simply start with a prep step.

To someone with an American style background, my advice for starting Quickstep is to first learn the basic Quarter Turn to Progressive Chasse Combo, thinking of it as the "Quickstep basic". If you start with a "prep step" forward on your left foot (count "slow"), the pattern will feel very much like the Progressive Quarter Turns (aka Junior Walk) from American style Foxtrot.

Regards,
Jonathan Atkinson
www.ballroomdancers.com

Jonathan. That is terrific how you have it that we can click onto the Basic Quickstep. This is where some of our teachers fall down and that is that on the Quarter Turn there is a quarter turn to the right and a quarter turn to the left on the Progressive Chasse to hold that position for the Lockstep which is exactly what you do in the clip.
Its the falure to explain this and not have the class recite, as they perform, so they will never forget how to show clean lines between each section.
There is a Proverb which goes something like this.
Tell me and I may remember
Show me and I may not forget
Make me do it and I will
always remember
Part 2.
If the above has been taught and the class are now going to add a Spin Turn. I think whilst practicing the Spin Turn on its own it is a big mistake to add a preperation step onto the Spin Turn or whatever move may be following the Lockstep.
If a preperation step is used a beginner may be confused and start looking for these steps in a group that is danced right through and not broken into parts. I was once in a class where this guy insisted that a Feather Step starts on the man's left foot. The teacher had to find the technique book and show this character how wrong he was. I will add this. When I first learnt to dance there was no walk in on any of the dances. In the Quickstep or the Foxtrot we had to pick up the beat and start straight in on the RF. Even today is there a prep step in the Tango or the V. Waltz. International Style. I wonder in what year it became fashionable to do a preperation step and which person introduced it. There had to be a first.