American Foxtrot

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Style: American

Category: Smooth Ballroom

Rhythm: 4/4 time   ‘SSQQ’ & ‘SQQ’    (Accent on 1 and 3, 1 stronger)

Tempo: 30-32    Bars per minute (Competition)

                29-34    Bars per minute (Social)

          The Foxtrot is by far the most common ballroom dance in the world.   This is due mostly to the extremely large number of popular and enjoyable songs which have been written which are appropriate for dancing foxtrot.   This dance originated in the United States in 1913 when a Vaudeville stage performer named Harry Fox invented a ‘trot’ for his act.   Soon, it was being copied and taught in New York Dance studios, from which it spread to the rest of the world.

          The Foxtrot revolutionized ballroom dance and was also a huge leap forward for ballroom dance technique, as it was the first dance to incorporate both Slow (two beat) and quick (one beat) steps.

          Competitive Foxtrot is considered by many to be the most challenging dance to learn and the International Style Bronze syllabus only includes 8 Bronze level figures.   How then is this the most common ballroom dance?

          In American Style ballroom dancing ‘social dance’ figures are included in the Foxtrot Bronze Syllabus.   As a result, a recent Arthur Murray syllabus lists 31 Bronze level figures. While it is a general rule that American Style includes more figures than International, the main difference is that in International style ‘Social dance’ Foxtrot figures are called ‘Social Rhythm Dancing’ rather than ‘Foxtrot’ and are not included in the international style bronze syllabus.  

          At levels beyond this ‘social dance’ level, the American and International style techniques of Foxtrot becomes identical for the figures that they share in common.

          Fred Astaire is most famous for his wonderful Foxtrot’s, and his movie performances set the standard for what has since become the American Style Foxtrot.   Because of its American origins and Fred Astaire’s dance films, the American Style Foxtrot has had a much greater impact on International Foxtrot than vice-versa.