Foxtrot Unlimited

Preface

This is the first in a series of books on International Style Ballroom Dancing.  This first book covers American and International Foxtrot.  Although it is a beginner’s book, intended to introduce the social dancer to international style ballroom dancing, it also contains many advanced figures and the full range of ballroom dance technique.  It bridges the gap between the more technical books of dance figures intended primarily for professional teachers of dancing, and the lessons given by those teachers to people like you and me.

The book is organized into five chapters describing the dance figures, and appendices containing the technical details such as posture, timing, leading and following, etc.  The first chapter describes basic and advanced American Foxtrot.  The first part of this chapter is intended for those who need to learn to dance ‘in a few days’ for some special occasion such as a wedding or a blind date. The remainder of the book is devoted to International Foxtrot. 

Chapters two, three and four cover basic, intermediate, and advanced International Foxtrot, the figures taught in most schools of International Ballroom Dancing, the so-called English system.  Chapter five describes a number of ‘open’ figures; nonstandard maneuvers developed by top professionals and competitors for use in their most advanced presentations.  An exhaustive treatment of the open work is not possible because new figures and sequences are constantly being developed.

There are some twenty or thirty important figures in each of the Modern Dances plus a number of interesting variations, most of which you probably would like to know about whether you ever intend to dance them or not.  These figures are described in detail and presented in short sequences of three or four figures that have been found to work well together.  Suggestions are given after each figure for other figures that may be danced rather than the next figure in the sequence being described. 

The figures are presented in sequences in order to clarify the descriptions by giving them some context. Furthermore, these sequences provide an elegant and substantial dance repertoire.  This approach should also enable and encourage you to create your own sequences and variations, for as you will see, the number of possible combinations is practically limitless.

For example, if you assume that there are at least two different figures that can be danced after each figure (and usually there are more), then there will be at least a thousand ways to dance a sequence of ten figures.  New figures and variations and combinations are being invented all the time.  The most that can be done in a book of finite size is to describe all of the figures that  can be identified at this time and give representative examples of how they are danced.  You, the reader will have to take it from there.

One lifetime, however long, is insufficient to completely explore even one of the ballroom dances.  Whenever you see a couple stuck in a rut dancing the same pattern over and over, think of this: such lack of imagination amounts to starvation in the midst of plenty.

The leader’s function is to seek an interesting path through this lush garden of possibilities and invite his partner to join him.  The woman’s part, should she choose to accept it, is a bit more demanding.  She must join her partner with enthusiasm and vigor, respond to his leads with style and grace, inspire him to make better and better choices, and make the end result appear to be a great deal better than it really is.

None of this information is original; every bit of it was learned from someone else, somewhere, sometime, although the form of presentation here may be unique.  It represents the writer’s best efforts to preserve some of what he has learned before it disappears forever in the mists of time. 

Major sources of information for this book are the many amateurs and professional dancers associated with

Ron Bennett’s Chevy Chase Ballroom and Dancesport Center, Washington, DC

Terry Gregory’s Feather and Three Studio, Arlington, Virginia

Joe Jenkins’ Bethesda Dancesport, Bethesda, Maryland

Competitions sponsored by the U. S. Amateur Ballroom Dancing Association.

Competitions sanctioned by The Imperial Society, London