"Dances come and dances go, but the Fox Trot seemingly is always fashionable". This is a statement that has hold true for more than a hundred year! Welcome to this class to improve your skills in one of the most popular social dances in Sweden.
The origins of foxtrot is probabily to be found among dancers in the black night clubs in the segregated USA around the turn of the last centery. It became widely popularised among other walks of life with artist such as Vernon & Irene Castle and Harry Fox on the theater stages and silent movies in the mid 1910s.
Orinially foxtrot was danced to ragtime music and was fast and jumpy dance. Through the decades though it was danced to charlston and blues as well as swing, rock'n'roll, disco, love ballads, dance band and nowadays any popular music. The saying was that if its dancable and not tango then it's a foxtrot!
Durin the 1920s the dance developed to a fast "quickstep" and a slower "slowfox". Both became advanced and challanging competition dances. However foxtrot has always been danced at more moderate pace as "social foxtrot" for everyone else to enjoy.
The social foxtrot in Sweden has been danced less formal and more intimately than many other countires. The last few years have seen a rapid change on the dance as a new generation of dancers have replaced many typical elements of foxtrot with their own inventions and imports from other dances.
The "correct way" to dance foxtrot socially is probable impossible to say since it has been taught differently in differnt countries by different teachers although usually it has been some version of a simplified slowfox and hence easily recognisable as foxtrot.
Some would say that the modern Swedish fox no longer should be called a foxtrot since both its musicality, basic steps, movement patterns, technique and expression has changed too much. Others names have been used to describe this new way of dancing such as "Swedish foxtrot", "coasy fox", "dirty fox", "bachata/blues/tango/kizomba fox fusion", "dynamic fox", "modern fox" etc.
What do we learn in the course?
In any couple dances, no matter the name, we search for a feeling of flow and enjoyment which usually appears when we mangage to cooperate well with our partner, the music, the floor, other couples and our own body not least.
Although the expression that "anything goes in foxrot" is often heard it is important to be aware about how the different techniqal choices that we make effects our dancing. For example depending on how we embrace and communicate, how we take our steps, what posture we have etc we limit our selves to different expressions and experiences in our dance.
In this course we will focus on the principles and techniques that we think will help us dance in a more free, enjoyable and beautiful way in general. Since social foxtrot is danced to different types of muic and with partners with different skill sets we will also practice on switching between different expressions in our dancing.
In addition to the steps and movements that are commenly seen on the social dance floors in Sweden we will also get inspiration from other dances such as blues, kizomba, tango and ofcourse the tradional foxtrot.
This course will be come back once a year with the same name but with differnt content, simly because there are so many exciting things to learn. As long as you find the classes enjoyable you are welcome to participate every year to learn new material.
You are also welcome to just dropin whenever you want. As long as you come with a partner you are garanteed a place otherwise we can only accept you in case there is another parter to dance with. You can look for a partner by posting in following groups:
