Foxtrot
American social dance in 4/4 time.
What it means
The foxtrot is an American social dance in 4/4 time that arose around 1910 and quickly developed into one of the most widely danced couple dances. It combines gliding, striding movements with an alternation of slow and quick steps.
Musically the foxtrot is closely connected with early jazz and the dance music of the 1910s and 1920s. Characteristic are an even pulse in duple time, an accompaniment that marks the beats distinctly, and a melody with syncopated turns.
From the foxtrot several dances with different tempi developed. The slow foxtrot, in English slow foxtrot (German Slowfox), is a calm, flowing standard dance; the fast foxtrot, from which the quickstep developed, is markedly quicker. This distinction is made precisely in dance training, less so in general usage.
In the notation
The foxtrot is in 4/4 time, often with a bass on the first and third beats and a chord on the second and fourth. The melody is clearly articulated, usually in sections of eight bars, often with syncopations.
Musical use
The foxtrot shaped the dance music of the interwar period and was played by dance orchestras in America and Europe. Numerous songs of this time were arranged as foxtrots. In the dance school and in competitive dancing it is widespread to this day.
The foxtrot arose around 1914 in the USA and spread quickly as a social dance; its name is traced back to the vaudeville performer Harry Fox. Musically it is in duple time with an even pulse, often with swing elements. One distinguishes the slow slow foxtrot and the fast quickstep, which today belong to the standard dances. In the dance music of the 1920s and 1930s the foxtrot was the most common form; many hit songs and jazz standards of that time were arranged for it.
Performance practice
Keep the pulse even and the tempo constant; dancers need reliability. Bring out the syncopations of the melody lightly without throwing the accompaniment out of time. Play the accompaniment slim. And settle which foxtrot is meant — the tempo differs considerably.