Fox Trot

The Foxtrot is a darling among many ballroom dancers. Due to its softness, it is often referred to as the Rolls Royce of the standard dances. Once you learn the Foxtrot, you really feel like a dancer.

The Foxtrot is very similar to the Waltz. The two are extremely smooth dances that travel along a line of dance counterclockwise around the floor. Foxtrot comes from the long walking movements made by the dancers which results to a rise and fall actions. The dance combines quick steps with slow steps, giving dancers more flexibility in movement and greater dancing pleasure.

A romantic and beautiful dance , the Foxtrot is an arrangement of fairly simple walking steps and side steps. Combination of slow steps, which use two beats of music, and quick steps, which use one beat of music, the footwork timing is usually "slow, quick, quick" or "slow, slow, quick, quick." The Foxtrot must be danced very effortlessly, with no jerking of the body. Timing is also a very important component of the Foxtrot. As the Foxtrot is more challenging than other styles of dance, it is usually recommended to master the Waltz and Quickstep prior to attempting it.

Individual to the Foxtrot, dancers take long steps during the slower counts, and short steps during the faster counts. In order to maintain the "trot" of this dance, dancers should shorten their steps as the tempo of the music increases. Some of the steps create attractive zig - zag patterns on the dance floor. A couple of steps distinctive to the Foxtrot are the Weave and the Feather Step.

As a result of the great popularity which ballroom dancing was enjoying, it was necessary to evolve a form of dance that could express the slow syncopated 4/4 rhythm and yet could remain "on the spot." This did not mean that the traveling fox-trot was dropped, but the "on the spot" dance did provide a means of enjoying the music in a background which large numbers of people could afford and enjoy, and where various bands were all producing excellent and individual musicians and experimenting with and perfect all of the new sounds and beats from America. The "on the spot" dancing was known appropriately as crush, then rhythm dancing. It is now called "social" dancing and possibly this conveys its purpose and limitations. It would be anti-social to attempt to stride around a ballroom crowded with dancers, to dance with only one partner when out with a party, or to be so engrossed with the performance of figures that any conversation is taboo. It can also create a very good base - should it be desired - for the foxtrot.

The foxtrot is typically danced to big band swing-style music written in 4/4 time, with tempo around 120 to 136 beats per minute. With the first and third beats are accented more strongly than the second and fourth beats.

The Foxtrot was the most important development in all of ballroom dancing. The combination of quick and slow steps assures more flexibility and gives much greater dancing pleasure than the one-step and two-step which it has replaced. There is more style to choose from in the fox-trot than in any other dance, and in some ways it is the hardest dance to learn.

Variations of the foxtrot include the Peabody, the Quickstep and Roseland foxtrot. Even dances such as the lindy and the hustle have originated to some extent from the foxtrot.