Learning how to Foxtrot can help put a little more sway in your step and it isn’t time consuming or expensive! As Friedrich Nietzsche said, “Let that day be lost to us on which we did not dance once!” So don’t delay, try the Foxtrot today!
The Foxtrot is very versatile and can be done to a variety of different music. Harry Fox, the man often accredited with giving this smooth dance its name, originally did it to ragtime music. But the Foxtrot can be danced to Big Band or any music with 4/4 timing. From its introduction in 1914 to well into the 1940s, the majority of records released were foxtrots. Even the popular Lindy Hop in the 1940s didn’t diminish people’s love of the Foxtrot. After all, Lindy Hop records could be danced to with a Foxtrot as well. When “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets debuted in 1954, it was usually danced to with a Foxtrot. The Foxtrot, with its slow-slow-quick-quick rhythm fits so well with early rock and roll music that Decca Records labeled its first rock and roll albums, not as “Rock and Roll” but as “Foxtrots.”
The Foxtrot has a rise and fall action similar to the Waltz, but more subtle. The man usually leads in the Foxtrot and it is traditionally danced in the closed position (with the man and woman facing one another, with their bodies parallel). A semi-closed position is common when first learning the foxtrot steps, or when dancing socially.
Foot Movement
With forward steps: Your heel meets the floor first, and then your toe, as you move forward
With backward steps: Your toe meets the floor first, and then your heel, as you move backward
Side steps vary but are usually done toe first.
Basic Foxtrot Steps for Men
Forward Basic
Left foot forward, slowly
Right foot forward, slowly
Left foot to the side and slightly forward, quickly
Right foot meets the left foot, quickly
Back Basic – a reversed Forward Basic
Left foot back, slowly
Right foot back, slowly
Left foot to the side and slightly back, quickly
Right foot meets the left foot, quickly
Basic Foxtrot Steps for Women
Forward Basic
Right foot back, slowly
Left foot back, slowly
Right foot side and slightly back, quickly
Left foot meets the right foot, quickly
Back Basic
Right foot forward, slowly
Left foot forward, slowly
Right foot side and slightly forward, quickly
Left foot meets the right foot, quickly
Once you’re comfortable with the basics, you can try some of the more advanced Foxtrot steps like a Hesitation Left Turn, a Left Box (Reverse) Turn, a Side Sway, and the Promenade. Like Bill Haley and His Comets, the Foxtrot’s endless combinations will have you and your partner rockin’ around the clock.
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