Foxtrot refers to two dances which are set to the same style of music, one suitable for beginners, the other suitable only for experts. The first has several names: Social Foxtrot, Slow Rhythm, American Smooth, Smooch. The second is called Slow Foxtrot. In historical terms Foxtrot itself is one of a pair of dances that share a common ancestor (the other member of the pair is Quickstep.) The common ancestor was Rag, the dance that evolved to accompany the North American ragtime music that became popular just prior to the First World War.

Social Foxtrot is the first Ballroom dance we teach. It is the ideal point entry to Ballroom dancing: it gets you going and it illustrates some important points of general applicability. Indeed my examiner (for my professional qualification) was of the opinion that Social Foxtrot is the most important of all the Ballroom dances for precisely this reason. However, we teach only a little Social Foxtrot as the aim is just to get you going so that we can move on to the more interesting Ballroom dances.

Foxtrot is set to music in 4/4 time, played no faster than a leisurely 30 bars per minute. The 1st beat of the bar is the strongest but the 3rd beat is also fairly strong, so the music is characterised by a progression of beats Strong-weak-Strong-weak-Strong-weak-Strong-weak-...

The basic figures of Social Foxtrot involve two slows and two quicks, where a single slow is a Strong-weak pair and two quicks together are also a Strong-weak pair. Hence two slows and two quicks take six beats, which is a bar and a half. The entire basic consists of two such basic figures, so it is timed SSQQ SSQQ, taking twelve beats (three bars) in total.

The slow steps of the basic figures involve walking: when one partner walks forward the other walks backward. You become familiar with moving together, not treading on one another and not being afraid to move confidently. You also learn to take an entire slow for the walk. I sometimes count the slows by saying "saunn-t" as in the word "saunter" but with emphasis on the first syllable (the Strong beat) and lack of emphasis on the second syllable (the weak beat). I want you to take the entirety of the word "saunn-t" for the walk.

The quick steps involve turn and the first quick ends up positioned to the side as a result of the turn. The modest amount of turn involved allows you to learn about the inside and outside of turn in a relatively undemanding setting. The person moving backwards is always closer to the central point around which turn is being made and hence has a shorter length of arc to travel. If you are to stay together as you dance this must be understood. You will also learn that clockwise turns are early turns and anticlockwise turns are late turns, although the significance of this important fact may well be lost on you at the time.

The second quick involves closing the feet. Whereas in Waltz the closing of the feet may present a problem (remembering which foot moves next) in Social Foxtrot there is a simple rule: the man moves his left foot and the lady moves her right foot. This is another good reason for learning Social Foxtrot first.