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The Foxtrot (also: "Fox trot", "foxtrot", "fox trot") is a ballroom dance
Ballroom dance

Ballroom dance refers to a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both social dance and ballroom dance#competitive dancing around the globe. Its performance dance and entertainment aspects are also widely enjoyed on Theater, in film, and on television....
 which is often said to take its name from its inventor, the vaudeville
Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a genre of a variety show prevalent on the theatre in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. It developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrel show, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque....
 actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
 Harry Fox
Harry Fox

Harry Fox , born Arthur Carringford, was a vaudeville dancer and comedian, most famous for giving his name to the Fox Trot dance. His steps were recorded by dance instructor F....
; however the exact origins are unclear.

According to legend, he was unable to find single female dancers capable of performing the more difficult two-step
Two-step (dance move)

The two-step is a step found in many folk dances, and in various other dances. It seems to take its name from the 19th century dance related to the Polka....
. As a result, he added stagger steps (two trots), creating the basic Foxtrot rhythm
Rhythm

Rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events....
 of slow-slow-quick-quick.






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The Foxtrot (also: "Fox trot", "foxtrot", "fox trot") is a ballroom dance
Ballroom dance

Ballroom dance refers to a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both social dance and ballroom dance#competitive dancing around the globe. Its performance dance and entertainment aspects are also widely enjoyed on Theater, in film, and on television....
 which is often said to take its name from its inventor, the vaudeville
Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a genre of a variety show prevalent on the theatre in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. It developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrel show, freak shows, dime museums, and literary burlesque....
 actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
 Harry Fox
Harry Fox

Harry Fox , born Arthur Carringford, was a vaudeville dancer and comedian, most famous for giving his name to the Fox Trot dance. His steps were recorded by dance instructor F....
; however the exact origins are unclear.

According to legend, he was unable to find single female dancers capable of performing the more difficult two-step
Two-step (dance move)

The two-step is a step found in many folk dances, and in various other dances. It seems to take its name from the 19th century dance related to the Polka....
. As a result, he added stagger steps (two trots), creating the basic Foxtrot rhythm
Rhythm

Rhythm is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events....
 of slow-slow-quick-quick. The dance was premiered in 1914, quickly catching the eye of the talented husband and wife duo Vernon and Irene Castle
Vernon and Irene Castle

Vernon and Irene Castle were a husband-and-wife team of ballroom dancers of the early 20th century. They are credited with invigorating the popularity of modern dancing....
, who lent the dance
Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to Motion of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of Emotional expression, social social interaction or presented in a spirituality or performance setting....
 its signature grace and style.

W.C. Handy ("Father of the Blues") notes in his autobiography that Noble Sissle
Noble Sissle

Noble Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright.|filename=Eubie Blake - Just Wild about Harry.ogg|title=I'm Just Wild About Harry...
 told a story that Handy's Memphis Blues was the inspiration for the Fox Trot. Jim Europe, the Castle's music director, would play slowly the Memphis Blues during breaks from the fast paced Castle Walk and One-step. The Castles were intrigued by the rhythm and Jim asked why they didn't create a slow dance to go with it. The Castles introduced the "Bunny Hug" in a magazine article. They went abroad and in mid-ocean sent a wireless to the magazine to change the "Bunny Hug" to the "Foxtrot."

It was later standardized by Arthur Murray
Arthur Murray

Arthur Murray was a dance instructor and businessman, whose name is most often associated with the dance studio chain that bears his name.Pupils of Murray have included Eleanor Roosevelt, the Duke of Windsor, John D....
, in whose version it began to imitate the positions of Tango
Tango (dance)

Tango is a musical genre and its associated dance forms that originated in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay, and spread to the rest of the world soon after that....
.

At its inception, the Foxtrot was originally danced to ragtime
Ragtime

Ragtime is an originally American musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Ragtime was the first truly American musical genre, predating jazz....
. Today, the dance is customarily accompanied by the same big band
Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the swing from the early 1930s until the late 1940s....
 music to which swing
Swing (dance)

The term "swing dance" commonly refers to a group of dances that developed concurrently with the swing music style of jazz music in the 1920s, '30s and '40s....
 is also danced.

From the late teens through the 1940s, the foxtrot was certainly the most popular fast dance and the vast majority of records issued during these years were foxtrots. The waltz
Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom dance and folk dance dance in Time signature, performed primarily in closed position....
 and tango, while popular, never overtook the foxtrot. (Even the popularity of the lindy hop
Lindy Hop

Lindy Hop is an African American dance, based on the popular Charleston and named for Lindberg's Atlantic crossing, that evolved in New York City in 1927....
 in the 1940s didn't dent the foxtrot because the foxtrot could be danced to those lindy hop records, as well.)

When rock and roll
Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a form of music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its roots lay mainly in rhythm and blues, Country music, folk music, gospel music, and jazz....
 first emerged in the early 1950s, record companies were uncertain as to what style of dance would be most applicable to the music. Famously, Decca Records
Decca Records

Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 in music by Edward Lewis . Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
 initially labelled its rock and roll releases as "Fox trots", most notably "Rock Around the Clock
Rock Around the Clock

"Rock Around the Clock" is a 12-bar blues from 1952 in music, written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers . The song is ranked #158 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time....
" by Bill Haley and His Comets. Since that recording, by some estimates, went on to sell more than 25 million copies, "Rock Around the Clock" is technically the biggest-selling "Foxtrot" of all time.

Over time, Foxtrot split into slow (Foxtrot) and quick (Quickstep
Quickstep

Quickstep is an Ballroom glossary#International Style ballroom dance that follows a 2/4 or 4/4 time beat, similar to a fast Foxtrot . An example of a song suitable for the classic quickstep would be Louis Prima's "Sing, Sing, Sing"....
) versions. In the slow category, further distinctions exist between the International or English style of foxtrot and the continuity American style, both built around a slow-quick-quick rhythm at the slowest tempo, and the social American style using a slow-slow-quick-quick rhythm at a somewhat faster pace.

In the context of International Standard category of ballroom dances, for some time Foxtrot was called Slow Foxtrot, or Slowfox. These names are still in use, to distinguish from other types of Foxtrot.

Figures

(for the International or English style foxtrot)

Basic Figures
  • Three Step
  • Feather Step
  • Natural Turn
  • Reverse Turn
  • Closed Impetus


Standard Figures
  • Natural Weave
  • Basic Weave
  • Closed Telemark
  • Open Telemark
  • Hover Feather
  • Hover Telemark
  • Hover Cross
  • Open Impetus
  • Wave


Social Foxtrot

Social Foxtrot, which is also known as the Rhythm Foxtrot (also called Slow Rhythm) is often taught to beginners of ballroom dancing, and can be danced to the same music as Slow Foxtrot. It is seen as a very 'useful' dance as, unlike Slow Foxtrot, is easy to learn and can be danced on a crowded dance floor in social situations. The dance uses a standard closed Ballroom Hold
Closed position

In Partner dance, closed position is a category of positions in which partners hold each other while facing at least approximately toward each other....
, and the forward and back basic moves are:

Man Lady
Forward Step with Left Foot (Slow)
Forward Step with Right Foot (Slow)
Step to Left (Quick)
Close Right Foot to Left (Quick)		 Back Step with Right Foot (Slow)
Back Step with Left Foot (Slow)
Step to Right (Quick)
Close Left Foot to Right (Quick)
Back Step with Left Foot (Slow)
Back Step with Right Foot (Slow)
Step to Left (Quick)
Close Right Foot to Left (Quick)
 Forward Step with Right Foot (Slow)
Forward Step with Left Foot (Slow)
Step to Right (Quick)
Close Left Foot to Right (Quick)


The dance starts with the man facing the wall, and progresses anti-clockwise around the dance floor, along the line of dance. Note that each figure (e.g. forward and back basics shown above) only takes three beats (SSQQ) whilst danced to four-beat music. This is common to many ballroom dances, which are thereby danced 'across the bars'; this adds to the interest and musicality of the dances.

The social foxtrot may be danced to music with a wide range of styles and tempo (e.g. quickstep and even jive music), making it very versatile.

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