Social Dancing is like Dancing with the Stars, but with light conversation and more clothes on, and the Foxtrot is the first dance to get that started.
Whether you are considering dance lessons, or consider social dancing your hobby, it always helps to learn a little why certain dances are so important.
And Foxtrot is one of them.
9 Reasons Why Social Dancing Should Begin With Foxtrot
1. Any Occasion
Foxtrot can be classy, lighthearted, or rhythmical. It's like a crisp white button up that you can wear with a blazer, or with your favorite pair of blue jeans. Foxtrot is an all purpose dance that can fit any dance event or venue.
2. Talk and Dance
There is no skill more important to social dancing than talking while dancing - period, end of story. Since Foxtrot is a slow dance, and is easy to learn, this is usually the first dance where socializing while dancing begins.
3. Learn to Navigate
Most people learn how to drive in their parents car in a deserted parking lot, and most dancers learn how to drive around the dance floor with the Foxtrot. With clear and easy movements like the Swing Step, Promenade, and Magic Step, and change of direction movements like the Magic Left Turn, the Foxtrot is, you guessed it, the dance version of your parents station wagon.
4. Get Acquainted
The Foxtrot is commonly referred to as the "First Impression Dance". This is because it is good dance etiquette to use the Foxtrot for dancing with someone for the first time.
5. Conserve Energy
Let's say you've danced a Hustle, Merengue, and followed that with a Cha-Cha-Cha. The DJ decides to play a Swing, but you've got other plans. You opt for a Foxtrot to catch your breath and conserve energy so you can keep dancing when everyone else starts tiring out.
6. Scalability
You may have seen those videos with the scarf folding experts before (here's one). The goal is to dazzle you with an innumerable amount of uses for the same piece of fabric. Well, the Foxtrot is that scarf. Making a few simple adjustments, the dance can easily convert to other dances within the Foxtrot family like Foxy, Society Tempo Foxtrot, Peabody, and Quickstep. No actual scarf necessary.
7. Decisiveness
There's a saying in sports that is used frequently with quarterbacks, "the game is starting to slow down for him". This means that the endless multi-tasking for a leader has settled in, and they can now move around the dance floor without thinking. This is when dancing switches to auto-pilot, and Foxtrot is the dance where most leaders feel that first.
8. Fundamentals
The Foxtrot is one of the only Ballroom Dances that combines the fundamentals of two dances - the Foxtrot and the Waltz. Using Box Timing, like a Swiss Army Knife adapter for converting Waltz patterns to Foxtrot, there is an even wider array of Ballroom Dance fundamentals available to you.
9. Evolves
There is no dance that evolves more through the Bronze Level than the Foxtrot. It transitions from a practical dance for any occasion into a beautiful, but jazzy, waltz-like dance in the higher levels.
Final Thought
There are plenty of dances with a little more cache and street cred than the Foxtrot. This isn't the dance that is the latest dance craze in the clubs, and some may think you're referring to an obscure animal rights organization.
That is, until you dance it.
Foxtrot, for many, is the first dance you learn. It is easy, and because of this, it is the antidote to so many of the Myths people believe about their ability to dance. Take any "I've got two left feet" or "I was born with no rhythm" objections, and Foxtrot makes quick work of them.
While you talk, dance, conserve energy, and navigate the room in your white button up shirt.
