Schalk Brits says there's no great secret to the sidestep. Much like the tango, the 24-year-old Stormers hooker says practice makes perfect.
Brits is one player in an inconsistent Stormers side who has performed with distinction this season. Apart from a few wobbly lineout throws, the 1,82m, 92kg hooker has lived up to his billing as one of the most unpredictable and exciting attacking weapons in South African rugby.
In the process he has scored two tries, the most recent a classical exhibition of guile, pace and acceleration when he stepped the first Cheetahs line of defence at Newlands on Saturday and then ran through the middle of four opponents - finishing off with a swallow dive.
Danie Gerber, the explosive centre regarded by many as the greatest Springbok of all time, says the sidestep is becoming a vanishing art as most players are running into contact and going to ground.
"Schalk Brits is an exception and I rate him as the best-balanced player in South African rugby. He is light on his feet and that makes all the difference. Because when he steps, he doesn't dig his studs into the turf and lose speed," said Gerber.
"I practised stepping and swerving from a young age, not just off the right foot, but also the left. Look at the way tennis or squash players move and you have an idea of how light rugby players should be on their feet. (Former Springbok wings) James Small and Ray Mordt were good examples of how a player should move on his feet to find that extra in beating defenders."
Before flying out with the Stormers to Australia on Thursday to kick off the overseas leg of their Super 14 campaign against the Western Force in Perth next Friday, Brits revealed that he had developed silky feet as a schoolboy, mostly out of a need for survival.
"I wasn't the biggest oke as a schoolboy player (at Paul Roos) and wanted to avoid contact. I wasn't a player who wanted to bash it up."
"If you play a lot of touch rugby, you develop an instinctive feeling and vision for what works and what doesn't. That's where the key is to taking on the half-gap when it opens. But often it's trial and error, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't."
Against the Cheetahs, Brits says he went for the gap because "I just wanted so badly to win".
"We've come close in five games without being able to pull off victories, but I'm still positive. Most people are writing us off and we do not want to make excuses, but we are a bit inexperienced when it comes to finishing off. With time we will improve."
Brits's versatility as a hooker with an attacking dimension to his game, much like Wallaby Jeremy Paul, has raised the suggestion that his best position could, in fact, be centre. It's not, however, something he has ever considered.
"I love playing hooker as there are so many dimensions to the position. You have got the physical battle in the front row, you can run with the ball and you have to throw the ball on a tickey at the lineouts. I've never played centre and although it's a great position, I've never envisaged myself in the midfield," he said.
At school, he played flank and even No 8 in the days when the hooker he most admired in world rugby was Ireland's Keith Wood.
"I just loved the way he played and captained the Irish side," he says.
"Carel du Plessis had a great swerve, the key to his play was that he never lost speed moving off his feet, and when it came to side-stepping, Danie Gerber was in a league of his own," he said of other players he admired in his youth.
In Australasia, the Stormers will be looking at Brits's feet as a key weapon in their arsenal to breaking first line tackles.
The Stormers, in 10th position on the log, are confronting a mini-crisis with four tough games on the road against the Force, the Blues, the Chiefs and the Reds.
"We never spoke about relegation before and now it has become a reality, so we have to improve. Nick (Mallett) and Kobus (van der Merwe) spoke earnestly to the players this week, emphasising that over the next few weeks we will be playing for our future and we know what we have to do.
"There are no easy games in the Super 14 and although we will be targeting a first win against the Force (who have not banked a single point this season), they may also be looking at us saying that because we've only won one game, they might fancy their chances.
"We've got the talent, it's just a case of putting it all together. Some days the backs have fired, but not the forwards and on other days it's the other way around. Now we've just got to combine as a unit."